i 


i 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


THE 


PRINCIPLES  OF  FREE  TRADE, 


ILLUSTRATED  IN  A  SERIES 


SHORT    AND    FAMILIAR    ESSAYS. 


ORIGINALLY  PUBLISHED  IN  THE 


BAXTXTER    OF    THE    COITSTITXTTIOIT. 


BY    CONDY    RAGUET,  LL.D. 

PHESIDENT  OF  THE  CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE  OF  PHILADELPHIA  ;  MEMBER  OF  THE  AMERICAN 

PHILOSOPHICAL    SOCIETY  ;    LATE    CHARGE   D'AFFAIRES   OF  THE  UXITED 

STATES    AT  THE   COURT   OF  BRAZIL;    AND  AUTHOR   OF  A 

"TREATISE  ON  CURRENCY  AND  BANKING." 


Laissez-nous  faire. 


SECOND     EDITION. 


PRINTED   FOR    THE   AUTHOR, 

AND    FOR    SALE    BY    THE    PRINCIPAL    BOOKSELLERS. 

1840. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1835,  by  Condy  Raguet,  in  the 
Clerk's  Office  of  the  Eastern  District  of  Tennsylvania. 


T.  K.  &  p.  O.  COLLINS,  PRINTERS,  PHILA. 


/X. 


To  Henry  Lee,  Esquire,  of  Massachusetts,  Colonel  Clement 
C.  Biddle,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  His  Excellency  Robert  Y. 
Hayne,  late  Governor  of  South  Carolina. 

Gentlemen : 
The  conspicuous  position  held  by  you  in  the  Northern,  Mid- 
dle and  Southern  sections  of  the  United  States,  respectively, 
among  the  advocates  of  Free  Trade,  during  the  contest  which 
happily  terminated  with  the  adoption  of  the  compromise  bill  of 
March  2d,  1833,  added  to  your  claims  upon  the  gratitude  of  the 
author  of  these  essays  for  the  intellectual  aid  which  you  ex- 
tended to  him  during  the  prosecution  of  his  work,  have  desig- 
nated you  as  the  particular  friends  to  whoni  its  dedication 
would  be  appropriate.  To  Mr.  Lee  is  the  country  indebted  for 
that  most  powerful  and  conclusive  exposition  of  the  practical 
operation  of  the  Tariff  upon  the  interests  of  Agriculture,  Com- 
merce and  Manufactures,  "  The  Boston  Report,"  which  w^as  first 
published  in  November,  1827,  and  to  which  maybe  ascribed  the 
first  impulse  of  re-action  against  the  Restrictive  System.  To  Co- 
lonel Biddle  is  it  indebted  for  his  instrumentality  in  disseminating 
sound  views  of  public  policy,  through  his  notes  appended  to  the 
six  American  editions  of  Say's  Political  Economy,  which  have 
appeared  under  his  editorial  superintendence.  To  Governor 
Hayne  is  it  indebted,  whilst  a  member  of  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  for  a  series  of  the  most  clear  and  scientific  illus- 
trations of  the  Principles  of  Free  Trade,  which  have  ever  been 
presented  to  the  American  community,  through  the  medium  of 
public  speeches.  And  to  each  of  you,  gentlemen,  is  the  author 
indebted  for  much  moral  support  through  correspondence  and 
personal  intercourse,  in  the  painful  and  trying  situation  in  which 
he  was  placed  for  four  years,  whilst  advocating  an  unpopular, 
and,  at  one  time,  what  appeared  to  be  a  hopeless  cause  ;  and 
he  begs  you  to  accept  of  the  assurance  of  his  sincere  acknow- 
ledgments, and  of  his  best  wishes  for  your  individual  health 
and  happiness. 

THE  AUTHOR. 

Philadelphia,  August,  1835.  ^" 


ffs  ,-^  *?  ?.vaR 


ADVERTISEMENT 
TO   THE   FIRST   EDITION. 


In  offering  to  the  public  the  present  volume,  the  author 
trusts  that  a  brief  sketch  of  the  circumstances  under  which  its 
contents  were  originally  written  and  pubUshed,  will  be  accept- 
able to  the  reader. 

During  the  war  which  was  declared  against  Great  Britain 
in  1812,  and  which  was  terminated  in  the  commencement  of 

1815,  the  wants  of  the  government  led  to  a  doubling  of  the  du- 
ties which  had  been  previously  imposed  upon  foreign  commo- 
dities. This  increase  of  duties,  accompanied  as  it  was  by  di- 
minished supplies  from  abroad,  and  by  an  increase  of  the  ex- 
penses of  import  in  the  charges  of  insurance  and  freight,  natu- 
rally augmented  the  prices  of  foreign  products,  and  brought  in- 
to premature  existence  several  branches  of  domestic  manufac- 
ture, which  could  only  be  sustained  by  a  continuance  of  war 
prices.  Accordingly,  when  an  adjustment  of  the  Tariff,  adapt- 
ed to  a  state  of  peace  was  about  to  be  made,  the  manufacturers 
of  cottons  and  woollens,  whose  interests  were  dependent  upon 
a  continuance  of  the  double  duties,  earnestly  solicited  Congress, 
not  for  their  permanent  retention,  but  for  such  a  gradual  sys- 
tem of  reduction  as  would  enable  them  to  avoid  the  ruinous 
effects  of  a  sudden  repeal.  This  reasonable  request  was  listen- 
ed to,  and  granted ;  and  accordingly,  by  the  act  of  April  27, 

1816,  the  duties  on  certain  descriptions  of  cotton  and  woollen 
goods  were  fixed  at  ticenty-jiDe  per  cent,  ad  valorem,  until  the 
30th  of  June,  1819,  when  they  were  to  be  reduced  to  twenty 
per  cent.  Prior,  however,  to  the  arrival  of  this  latter  period, 
the  manufacturers  applied  for  a  postponement  of  the  time  at 
which  the  reduction  should  take  effect,  and  so  strong  an  ap- 
peal was  made  by  them  to  Congress,  that,  on  the  20th  of  April, 
1818,  a  law  was  passed,  fixing  the  30th  of  June,  182G,  as  the 
period  of  reduction.  On  the  same  day,  two  other  acts  were 
passed,  one,  entitled  "  An  act  to  increase  the  duties  on  cer- 
tain manufactured  articles  imported  into  the  United  States," 
comprising  manufactured  copper,  silver-plated  saddlery,  coach 
and  harness  furniture,  cut-glass  ware,  tacks,  brads  and  sprigs, 
and  Russia  sheetings ;  and  the  other,  "  An  act  to  increase  the 
duties  on  iron  in  bars  and  bolts,  iron  in  pigs,  castings,  nails, 
and  allum." 

The  first  of  these  acts  destroyed  the  temporary  character  of 
the  protection  afforded  by  the  act  of  1818,  to  cottons  and  wool- 
1*  V 


VI  ADVERTISEMENT. 

lens,  and  the  others  virtually  introduced  the  right  of  permanent 
protection,  in  reference  to  the  articles  therein  enumerated,  and 
thus  laid  the  foundation  of  the  restrictive  policy,  which  was 
adopted  as  general  by  the  acts  of  22d  of  May,  1824,  and  May 
19,  1828,  known  by  the  appellation  of  the  "American  Sys- 
tem." By  those  two  laws  duties  were  laid,  with  the  manifest 
object  of  protection,  upon  almost  every  foreign  commodity 
known  to  come  into  competition  with  the  branches  of  domes- 
tic industry  then  in  operation,  and  so  unanimous  was  the  voice 
of  the  Northern,  Middle,  and  some  of  the  Western  states,  in  fa- 
vour of  the  system,  that  it  was  generally  deemed,  in  those  sec- 
tions, to  be  "  the  settled  policy  of  the  country." 

Amongst  the  few  individuals  residing  north  of  the  Potomac, 
who  believed  that  the  restrictive  policy  was  adverse  to  the  true 
interests  of  the  country,  and  might  be  at  least  prevented  from 
being  pushed  to  absolute  prohibition  by  proper  efforts,  was  the 
writer  of  these  essays,  who,  with  the  design  of  contributing  his 
humble  labours  to  the  advancement  of  what  he  conceived  to 
be  so  good  a  cause,  commenced  the  publication,  on  the  1st  of 
January,  1829,  of  a  weekly  paper,  in  octavo  form,  under  the 
title  of  the  "  Free  Trade  Advocate."  After  the  completion  of 
two  volumes  of  that  work,  it  w^as,  on  the  1st  of  December  of 
that  year,  enlarged  to  the  quarto  form,  under  the  name  of  the 
"  Banner  of  the  Constitution,"  of  which  the  third  and  last 
annual  volume  was  completed  in  December,  1832. 

The  essays  contained  in  this  work  comprise  a  selection  from 
those  which  originally  appeared  as  editorial  in  the  publication 
just  mentioned.  The  date  of  the  appearance  of  each  has  been 
retained,  for  the  reason  that,  as  the  Tariff  from  time  to  time  dur- 
ing the  three  years  embraced  by  the  work  underwent  partial 
modifications,  a  history  of  its  gradual  reduction  is  thereby  pre- 
sented. These  essays,  however,  do  not  reach  the  period  of  the 
final  termination  of  the  Free  Trade  conflict.  On  the  14th  of 
July,  1832,  an  act  was  passed,  containing  a  general  modifica- 
tion of  the  duties,  but  the  concessions  therein  contained,  were 
not  sufficient  to  satisfy  the  people  of  South  Carolina,  who  had 
been  the  most  conspicuous  for  their  opposition  to  the  restric- 
tive policy.  That  state,  accordingly,  on  the  24th  of  November, 
1832,  passed  in  convention  an  ordinance,  declaring  unconsti- 
tutional, and  consequently  null  and  void,  and  not  operative  in 
South  Carolina  after  the  1st  of  February,  1833,  the  Tarifi"laws 
of  the  United  States.  The  events  which  followed  this  measure 
are  too  well  known  to  require  a  recapitulation  here.  Suffice  it 
to  say,  that  the  most  important  of  them  was  the  passage,  on  the 
2d  of  March,  1833,  of  a  bill,  entitled  "  An  act  to  modify  the  act 
of  the  fourteenth  of  July,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty- 
two,  and  all  other  acts  imposing  duties  on  imports." 

By  this  act,  known  as  the  Compromise  Bill,  it  was  provided 


ADVERTISEMENT.  Vll 

that  all  existing  duties  exceeding  twenty  per  cent,  should  be 
gradually  reduced  to  that  amount  by  the  30th  day  of  June,  1842, 
which,  having  been  satisfactory  to  S.  Carolina,  her  ordinance 
was  revoked,  and  thus  was  terminated  a  conflict  which,  at  one 
moment,  endangered  the  peace  of  the  Union,  and  which  it  is  to 
be  hoped  will  never  again  be  revived.  There  is  good  ground  for 
believing,  that  the  effects  of  the  gradual  reduction  of  the  duties 
will  be  overcome  by  the  manufacturers  in  most  or  all  of  the 
branches  afl^ected  by  it,  by  increased  skill,  economy,  and  improv- 
ed machinery,  so  that  the  losses  anticipated  by  them  will  not  be 
reahzed.  Such  a  consummation  is  devoutly  to  be  wished.  But 
should  it  unfortunately  happen,  that  those  amongst  them  who, 
for  want  of  capital  to  procure  the  most  improved  machinery,  or 
from  possessing  barren  iron  mines,  or  unfertile  sugar  lands,  can- 
not stand  the  competition  of  the  foreign  market,  should,  at  a  fu- 
ture day,  seek  to  revive  the  restrictive  policy,  they  must  be  met 
as  heretofore,  by  arguments  addressed  to  the  understandings 
of  the  people.  A  collection  of  such  arguments,  it  is  confident- 
ly trusted,  will  be  found  in  this  volume,  which,  although  con- 
taining some  matter  applicable  to  a  particular  time  and  parti- 
cular places,  will  be  found  to  embrace  the  investigation  of  al- 
most every  question  that  is  likely  to  be  presented  in  connection 
with  protective  duties,  for  many  years  to  come. 

For  the  information  of  those  who  may  wish  to  have  access 
at  a  future  time  to  a  complete  history  of  the  Free  Trade  con- 
test, the  author  takes  the  liberty  of  stating,  that,  in  the  two 
publications  above-mentioned,  and  in  the  "  Examiner,"  a  semi- 
monthly work  in  octavo,  published  by  him,  of  which  the  se- 
cond volume  was  completed  in  July,  1835,  will  be  found  almost 
every  important  document  and  state  paper,  and  an  account  of 
almost  every  movement  growing  out  of  the  restrictive  system 
which  made  its  appearance,  or  occurred,  subsequent  to  the 
year  1828.  A  copy  of  each  of  those  works  has  been  presented 
by  the  editor  to  the  Library  of  Congress,  the  Library  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Legislature  at  Harrisburgh,  the  Philadelphia  Li- 
brary, and  the  Library  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society, 
where  they  may  be  seen. 

Philadelphia,  August,  1835. 


ADVERTISEMENT 
TO   THE   SECOND   EDITION. 


The  first  edition  of  this  work,  published  in  1835,  having 
been  exhausted,  and  the  question  of  a  protective  tariff  hav- 
ing been  within  tlie  last  eight  months  revived,  with  every 
appearance  of  an  excitement  of  no  ordinary  extent,  the 
present  moment  has  been  embraced  by  the  Author  as  the 
best  adapted  in  his  opinion,  for  the  favourable  reception  of 
a  second  edition.  In  the  text  of  the  book,  no  alterations 
except  a  few  verbal  ones  have  been  made,  inasmuch  as 
upon  a  careful  perusal,  no  errors  of  principle  or  of  fact  have 
been  discovered,  and  the  essays  therefore  appear,  as  origi- 
nally written. 

To  this  edition  are  added  in  the  form  of  an  appendix,  the 
minutes  of  the  original  meeting,  which  called  the  Free  Trade 
Convention,  held  in  Philadelphia  in  the  year  1831,  to- 
gether with  the  names  of  the  two  hundred  respectable  gen- 
tlemen from  seventeen  States  of  the  Union,  who  composed 
that  Convention.  To  these  documents  is  added  a  Table  of 
Imports  and  Exports  of  the  United  States,  from  1789  to 
1839,  from  which  it  will  appear  how  greatly  the  foreign 
commerce  of  the  country  has  been  influenced  by  legislation, 
thus  exhibiting  a  practical  illustration  of  the  truth  of  the 
principles  inculcated  in  this  volume. 

It  will  be  perceived  by  the  title-page,  that  this  edition  is 
printed  for  the  Author.  The  principles  of  free  trade,  although 
much  more  extensively  acknowledged  at  the  North,  than 
they  were  ten  years  ago,  are  not  sufficiently  popular  to  in- 
duce booksellers  to  embark  in  a  work  of  this  character ;  and 
no  middle  course  existed,  between  his  undertaking  it  him- 
self, and  permitting  the  book  to  remain  out  of  print. 

Philadelphia,  June,  1840. 


TABLE     OF    CONTEJfTS 


ESSAYS. 

I.  Introductory  remarks.  General  propositions  con- 
nected "with  Free  Trade,  to  be  established  by 
these  essays i 

II.  Remarks  on  the  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Ma- 
nufactures, made  to  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives on  the  5th  of  January,  1830.  Impossibili- 
Ity  of  protecting  one  branch  of  industry  without 
injuring  others.  Observations  on  the  phrase, 
"  The  encouragement  of  manufactures,"  employ- 
ed in  the  preamble  to  the  Revenue  Act  of  1789. 
Smuggling.     Downfall  of  the  American  System 

foretold 5 

III.  Rail-roads  and  Canals.  ImpoHcy  of  constructing 
them  prematurely.  Principles  on  which  expen- 
ditures should  be  regulated.  Pennsylvania  will 
be  obliged  to  resort  to  direct  taxation  to  sustain 

her  internal  improvements 11 

iV.    Ironical  petition  of  oystermen  and  others,  designed 

^       to  show  the  absurdity  of  laws  restricting  industry     13 
(y.j  Incompatibility  of  the  interests  of  the  wool  grow- 
ers, with  those  of  the  wool  manufacturers    -     -     14 

VI.  Progress  of  Free  Trade  principles  in  the  United 

States.  North  American  Review.  Boston  Re- 
port. Southern  Review.  South  Carolina  Ex- 
position. Dew's  Lectures  on  the  Restrictive 
System.   Doctor  Cooper.    Professor  Mc  Vickar     16 

VII.  To  benefit  manufactures,  raw  materials  should  be 
I    admitted  free,  or,  at  low  duties.   Incompatibility 

of  the  interests  of  the  owners  of  iron  mines  with 
those  of  blacksmiths,  and  other  artificers  in  iron     19 

VIII.  Ironical  petition  of  the  owners  of  gold  mines  for 

protection 21 

IX.  Comments  on  the  bill  reported  on  the  27th  of  Janu- 
ary, to  the  House  of  Representatives,  by  the 
Committee  of  Manufactures.  Impracticability 
of  a  just  appraisement  of  manufactured  goods 

by  the  officers  of  the  customs 23 

X  Same  subject  continued.  Impracticability  of  pre- 
ix 


X  TABLE    OF   CONTENTS. 

ESSAYS. 

venting  smuggling  by  affixing  marks  on  import- 
ed woollen  manufactures.     Smuggling  mto  the 

United  States  through  Canada 26 

XL  Trade  between  the  United  States  and  Madeira. 
Influence  of  high  duties  upon  wine,  in  diminish- 
ing exports,  as  well  as  imports.  Effects  upon 
consumption  of  a  small  increase  in  price       -     -     30 

XII.  The  Protective  System  not  the  settled  policy  of 

the  country.     Its  first  general  introduction  into 

the  legislation  of  the  United  States  in  the  year 

1824.     Unsoundness  of  the  doctrine,  that  a  bad 

I  system  ought  to  be  adhered  to  merely  because 

I  it  has  long  existed 33 

XIII.  The  British   Corn  Law^s.     Influence  of,  upon  the 

commerce  of  the  United  States 35 

XIV.  On  the  influence  upon  public  and  private  prosperity 

of  labour-saving  machinery.  Absurdity  of  the  pre- 
vailing opinion  that  labour-saving  machines  are 
injurious  to  the  interests  of  the  working  classes     37 

XV.  The  Beet  Sugar  manufacture  of  France.    Injurious 

effects  of  governmental  protection  afforded  to  it. 
Comparative  consumption  of  sugar  in  France 
and  in  the  United  States.  Tax  paid  by  the  con- 
\  sumers  of  sugar  in  the  United  States  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  sugar  planters  of  liOuisiana     -     -     - 

XVI.  Remarks  on  an  essay  of  Publicola.    No  one  branch 

of  industry  can  pe>rmanently  be  more  productive 
than  another.  VVant  of  employment  cannot  long 
exist  in  the  United  States,  whilst  vacant  lands  are 
so  abundant.  Domestic  manufactures  shewn  to 
j  have  flourished  in  the  United  States  long  before 
'  the  protective  system  was  introduced      -     -     -     44 

XVII.  One  fact  is  worth  a  thousand  theories.     Fallacy 

conveyed  by  this  phrase,  employed  in  reference 

to  the  manufacture  of  carpets 47 

XVIII.  Plausibility  of  the   terms    "  Domestic    industry" 

and  "  American  System."  The  consumption  of 
foreign  products  affords  employment  to  Ameri- 
can industry  as  much  as  the  consumption  of  do- 
mestic products.  This  proved,  by  a  comparison 
of  the  two  modes  of  converting  raw  cotton  into 
fabrics,  the  commercial  process  and  the  manu- 
facturing process 49 

XIX.  Absurdity  of  restrictions  upon  industry,  and  the  em- 

ployment of  capital,  shewn  in  an  ironical  peti- 
tion from  the  cultivators  of  grapes       -     -     -     -     52 

XX.  Progress  of  improvements,  especially  in  labour-sav- 

ing machinery.     The  United  States  deprived  of 


41 


TABLE    OF    COXTENTS.  XI 

ESSAYS. 

a  participation  in  these  improvements  by  restric- 
I  live  laws.   Nations  that  will  not  buy,  cannot  sell. 
Commerce   an  exchange   of  equivalents,  illus- 
^-  —^     ,trated  by  transactions  between  individuals    -     -     54 
(  XXJ/  Desponding  tone  of  the  Southern  papers  as  to  the 
— -^       prospect   before  us.     Apathy  of  the  merchants 
beginning  to  wear  off.     Symptom  of  a  change 
of  public  opinion  beginning  to  appear      -     -     -     56 
XXII.  Design  of  Rail  roads  and  canals.     Their  advan- 
tages.   The  protective  policy  incompatible  with 

Internal  Improvements 58 

/XXIILIndifference  of  the  public  as  to  indirect  taxes.  Doc- 
V — ,-^  I  trine  that  paying  high  prices  for  commodities  is 
I  beneficial  to  labourers,  shewn  to  be  erroneous. 
Extraordinary  blindness  of  persons  who  live  on 
fixed  incomes,  in  relation  to  the  protective  sys- 
tem      59 

XXIV.  Recent  efforts  to  advance  the  cause  of  free  trade. 

Mr.  Cambreleng's  Report  on  Commerce.     -     -     61 

XXV.  The  doctrine,  that  countervailing  duties  against  the 

restrictive  laws  of  other  nations  are  beneficial, 
shewn  to  be  unsound,  by  reference  to  the  trade 
between  Buenos  Ayres  and  the  United  States    -     64 

XXVI.  The  American  System  adopted  in  Kentucky.  Ab-     • 

surdity  of,  shewn  in  a  reference  to  the  proceed- 
ings of  a  public  meeting  at  Versailles,  in  that 
state.  Circle  described  by  the  money  received 
by  the  graziers  of  the  Western  country  in  ex- 
change for  live  stock.  Individuals,  as  well  as 
'  nations,  are  enabled  to  sell,  because  they  buy    -     66 

XXVII.  Foreign  capital.  Employment  of,  shewn  to  be  ad- 

vantageous to  the  country,  and  one  of  ihe  great 
sources  of  the  prosperity  of  the  United  States. 
Fallacy  shewn,  of  the  assertion  that  an  exporta- 
tion of  public  stocks  and  bank  stocks  is  injurious      69 

XXVIII.  Advantages  of  direct  taxation  over  indirect  taxa- 
tion. Difference  shewn  in  the  case  of  the  ex- 
penses of  a  labouring  man.  Probable  amount  of 
indirect  tax  paid  by  the  population  of  the  United 
States 72 

XXIX.  Theory  of  the  balance  of  trade  being  proved  by  the 

rate  of  exchange  on  England  to  be  against  the 
United  States,  shewn  to  be  fallacious.  Cause  of 
the  nominal  high  rate  of  exchange  pointed  out. 
The  true  par  shewn 74 

XXX.  Importance  of  the  study  of  Political  Economy. — 

Duties  imposed  by  the  act  of  1790  upon  various 


XU  TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 

ESSAYS. 

commodities.  Fallacious  reasoning,  employed 
to  shew  that  free  trade  has  diminished  the  navi- 

,^     V     gation  of  England 77 

XXXL)Comments  on  a  speech  of  Mr.  Clay,  delivered  at 
-   '    Natchez.     Two  markets,  the  home  and  foreign, 
j  can  best  be  secured  by  free  trade.      The  fall  in 
the  prices  of  commodities  in  the  United  States 
since  the  year  1815,  shewn  not  to  have  been  oc- 
casioned by  the  restrictive  system      -     -     -     -     81 

XXXII.  General  Smith's  Report  on  the  Currency,  in  the 

Senate  of  the  United  States.  Influence  of  the 
banking  system  under  cash  payments.  Causes 
which  check  the  excessive  issue  of  bank  notes. 
Doctrine  of  the  true  par  of  exchange  on  England     89 

XXXIII.  Bill  reducing  the  duties  on  tea,  cofiee,  and  cocoa. 
First  step  towards  the  overthrow  of  the  high 
duty  system. 93 

XXXIVj.  Twofold  operation  of  the  tariff.  It  diminishes  im* 
I  ports,  and  it  diminishes  exports.  High  duties 
fall  heavier  upon  the  consumers  in  the  interior, 
than  upon  those  on  the  seaboard.  The  cotton, 
rice  and  tobacco  planters  more  injured  by  the 
protective  system,  than  the  gz'owers  of  other  pro- 
ducts        ----95 

XXXV.  Internal  Improvements.   True  influence  of,  upon 

the  wealth  of  nations 99 

XXXVI.  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Agriculture  to  the 
House  of  Representatives,  recommending  pro- 
tection to  the  growth  of  silk.  ImpoUcy  of,  shewn. 
Absurdity  of  the  common  notion  about  the  ba- 
lance of  trade    102 

XXXVII.  The  benefits  of  Free  Trade  illustrated  by  the 
commerce  carried  on  between  the  states  of 
Maine  and  Virginia  and  other  Southern  states. 

j  Robbing  Peter  of  one  dollar  to  pay  Paul  half-a- 

i  dollar,  is  the  real  eflect  of  the  restrictive  system    105 

XXXVIII.  Reasons  why  the  price  of  home-grown  wool  is 
cheaper  in  England  than  in  the  United  States. 
Prices  of  fresh  meat  in  England.  Price  of 
sheep  in  the  United  States 109 

XXXIXf  Effects  of  the  restrictive  system,  in  throwing 
people  out  of  employment.  The  American  Sys- 
tem older  than  is  commonly  supposed  -  -  -  111 
XL.  Injurious  influence  of  high  duties  upon  foreign  li- 
quors, on  the  cause  of  temperance  -  -  -  .  114 
XLI.  The  protective  policy  of  the  United  States  falls 
more  heavily  upon  the  poor  than  upon  the  rich. 


TABLE    OF    CON'TEiYTS.  XIU 

ESSAYS. 

Quantity  of  salt  produced  and  consumed  in  the 
United  States.  Tlie  duty  is  so  great,  that  it 
would  be  for  the  interest  of  the  consumers  to 
raise  a  fund  for  the  support  of  the  salt  makers,  if 

they  would  consent  to  take  it  off 117 

XLII.  A  reduction  of  the  duties  on  foreign  liquors  would 
promote  the  cause  of  agriculture.  This  proved, 
by  reference  to  our  trade  with  the  West  Indies, 

France  and  Holland        120 

XLIII.  American  industry  promoted  as  much  by  the  con- 
1    sumption  of  foreign  commodities,  as  by  that  of 

I    domestic  productions 123 

XLIV.  The  consumption  of  commodities  diminishes  as 
prices  rise.  Proved,  in  reference  to  the  price  of 
ice  in  Philadelphia,  in  1828.  Danger  of  tamper- 
ing with  commerce 126 

XLV.  Niles'  Register.  Communication  extracted  from, 
as  to  the  relative  advantages  of  domestic  and  fo- 
reign labour.  Fallacy  of  its  reasoning  exposed  128 
XLVI.  Kemarks  on  the  passage  of  the  bills  reducing  the 
duties  on  tea,  coffee,  cocoa,  salt  and  molasses. 
The  protective  system  can  only  be  broken  up  by 
attacking  it  in  detail.    The  inquisitorial  features 

of  Mr.  Mallary's  bill  abandoned 135 

XLVII.  Internal  Improvements.  Question  of  benefits  re- 
sulting from,  fairly  tested.  Influence  of  the  im- 
post and  funding  system,  as  promoting  extrava- 
gance in  government.  Sinking  of  capital.  Erro- 
neous opinions  generally  entertained  in  respect 

to  it 138 

XL VIII,  Doctrine  of  the  balance  of  trade.  Errors  of  the 
common  opinion  in  relation  to  it,  refuted.  True 

doctrine  of  exchange 142 

XLIX.  Influence  of  the  tariff  upon  the  Southern  states. — 
Total  possible  consumption  in  the  United  States 

of  cotton  fabrics 145 

L.  Short  cuts.  The  American  System  adverse  to  the 
policy  of  procuring  commodities  at  the  least  cost 

of  labour 148 

LI.  Tendency  of  the  protective  policy  to  prevent  emi- 
gration to  the  West.  The  doctrine  that  agricul- 
ture is  overdone,  denied.  Con  rast  between  the 
condition  of  a  farmer,  and  that  of  an  operator  in 

a  factory 149 

LII.   Two  modes  of  producing  cloth — the  process  call- 
ed manufacture,  and  the  process  called  com- 
merce.    High  duties  are  taxes  upon  those  who 
2 


XIV  TABLE    OF   CONTENTS. 

ESSAYS. 

produce  cloth  by  the  latter  process.  Mr.  McDuf- 
fie's  speech 152 

LIII.  The  settled  policy  doctrine  at  war  with  the  march 
of  improvement.  Absurdity  of  supposing  that 
the  vested  interests  of  individuals  should  be  pre- 
ferred to  the  great  interests  of  the  community  -  155 

LIY.  The  Monkey  System.     The  case  of  robbing  Peter 

to  pay  Paul,  fairly  stated 158 

LV.  Niles'  Register.  Fallacious  reasoning  of,  in  refer- 
ence to  the  tariff  upon  the  price  of  certain  ma- 
nufactures of  iron  and  steel 160 

LVI.  Mr.  Clay's  Speech  at  Cincinnati.  Quotations  from, 

and  remarks  upon 163 

LVII.  The  settled  policy  doctrine  in  continuation.  Esti- 
mate of  the  value  of  capital  vested  in  the  pro- 
tected manufactures.  It  would  be  better  for  the 
country  that  this  capital  should  be  sunk,  than 
that  the  protective  policy  should  be  adhered  to. 
Probable  maximum  of  loss  on  this  capital,  if  all 

.--'       V    duties  were  abolished 170 

/  LVIII.  I^allacy  of  the  doctrine,  that  it  is  for  the  public  in- 
^ — '            terest  that  legislative  protection  should  be  ex- 
tended to  every  thing  that  can  be   abundantly 
produced  in  the  country,  illustrated  by  reference 
to  figs 174 

LIX.  Importance  of  the  science  of  PoHcal  Economy  to 

an  American  lawyer  or  politician 176 

LX.    The  doctrine  of  exchange.     Nominal  advance  of 

six  per  cent  above  par,  shewn  to  be  below  par  -  178 

LXI.  The  doctrine  of  American  cotton  fabrics  meeting 
successfully  the  British  cotton  fabrics  in  foreign 
markets,  shewn  to  be  fallacious,  as  regards  ex- 
ports to  Buenos  Ayres 182 

LXII.  The  West  India  trade.     Benefits  resulting  from  its 

being  opened  with  the  United  States  -     -     -     -  184 

XLIII.  The  export  of  cotton  fabrics  from  the  United  States 
no  proof  that  we  can  undersell  the  British  in  fo- 
reign markets.  Exports  to  Turkey,  and  other 
ports  on  the  Mediterranean 187 

LXIV.  The  advocates  of  free  trade  are  the  true  friends  of 
the  labouring  classes.  Comments  on  a  speech  of 
Harrison  Gray  Otis,  Esq.  at  Boston.  The  num- 
ber of  persons  whose  employments  are  sustained 
by  protecting  duties,  is  a  very  limited  one     -    -  191 

LXV.  The  boasted  exports  of  cotton  fabrics,  to  the  East 
Indies  and  China,  shewn  toprove  nothing  as  to  our 
ability  lo  undersell  the  British  in  foreign  markets    196 


TABLE    OF    COXTENTS.  XV 

ESSAYS. 

LXVI.  Impossibility  of  preventing   smuggling  into   the 

United  States,  on  the  Canada  frontier      -     .     -  202 

LXVII.  A  profitable  commerce  always  shews  an  excess  of 
imports  over  exports.     This  proved,  by  refer-  -. 
ence  to  the  West  India  trade,   and  the  whaling 
voyages 205 

LXVIII.  The  sugar  duty.  Probable  effect  upon  the  price 
of  sugar  throughout  the  trading  world,  if  that 
duty  were  abolished.  Probable  effect  upon  the 
sugar-planting  interest  of  Louisiana     -     -     -        207 

LXIX.  Fallacy  of  supposing  that  the  mere  exportation  of 
cotton  fabrics,  is  proof  that  we  can  undersell  the 
British  in  foreign  markets,  proved  by  the  fact 
that  we  export  foreign  goods  burthened  with  all 
the  expenses  of  importation  into  the  United 
States 211 

LXX.  Mischief  likely  to  result  from  forcing  the  construc- 
tion of  canals  and  rail  roads.  True  nature  of 
capital  described 213 

LXXI.  The  cotton  manufacture  of  Rhode  Island.  Tax 
paid  by  the  consumers  of  cotton  fabrics  for  the 
support  of.  Probable  number  of  operatives  em- 
ployed in  the  cotton  manufacture  of  the  United 
States 216 

LXXII.  Remarks  upon  an  article  in  the  Encyclopoedia 
Americana,  on  the  cotton  manufacture  of  the 
United  States.  Reasons  why  we  cannot  manu- 
facture as  cheap  as  the  British 219 

LXXIIL  Vote  in  Congress  upon  a  resolution  to  repeal  the 

duty  on  sugar __...  224 

LXXIV.  The  sugar  duty.  Tax  paid  for  the  support  of  the 
sugar  planting  interest  in  the  United  States.  Cost 
of  an  invoice  of  sugar  at  Matanzas    -     -     -     -  226 

LXXV.  Remarks  upon  the  annual  Report  of  the  Secreta- 
ry of  the  Treasury 230 

LXXVL  A  copper  mine  discovered.     Extent  of  taxation 

imposed  by  the  American  System      -     -     -     -  238 

LXXVII.  Enumeration  of  articles   that  have  fallen  in 

price.    True  causes  of  that  fall 241 

LXX,VIII.  The  story  of  John,  Monsieur  Crapeau,  and 
\      Jonathan,  as  illustrative  of  the  absurdity  of  the 
doctrine  that  industry  prospers  by  restrictions  -  247 

LXXIX.  Proposed  duty  on  Screws.  Effect  of,  examined  250 

LXXX.  Reports  of  the  Majority  and  Minority  of  the 
Committee  on  Manufactures.  Doctrines  of,  ex- 
amined         --.  252 

LXXXI.  The  West  India  trade.     Effects  of  interfering 


XVI  TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 

ESSAYS. 

with    it    by    commercial     legislation    pointed 
out 254 

LXXXII.  Examination  of  the  doctrine,  that  the  Ameri- 
can Protective  System  has  reduced  the  prices  of 
foreign  goods  in  foreign  countries 257 

LXXXIII.  Speculations  as  to  the  effects  which  would  re- 
sult from  the  adoption  of  the  principles  of  Free 
Trade  in  the  United  States.  Superior  economy 
of  direct  taxation  over  indirect 260 

LXXXIV.  The  Cotton  manufacture.  Tax  imposed  there- 
by upon  consumers.  Imports  and  exports  of  fo- 
reign cottons  for  five  years 264 

LXXXV.  Importance  of  the  study  of  Political  Economy 
as  the  means  of  removing  the  prejudice  of  the 
working  classes  against  the  capitalists.  Such 
prejudices  shewn  to  be  injurious  to  the  former  -  267 

LXXXVI.  Adjournment  of  Congress.  Prospects  of  the 
Free  Trade  cause.  Upon  its  success  depends 
the  continuance  of  the  Union 276 

LXXXVII.  Pohtical  Economy  taught  in  several  institu- 
tions in  this  country.  Professor  Vethake's  In- 
troductory Lecture 280 

LXXXVIII.  Impossibility  of  preventing  smuggling.  Ex- 
tent to  which  it  is  carried  on  in  Europe.  Ho- 
nourable cond  uct  of  the  people  of  the  South  in  not 
resorting  to  it  as  a  means  of  redress   -     -     -     -  283 

LXXXIX.  Remarks  on  a  passage  in  Mr.  Mallary's  re- 
port, declaring  that  we  can  manufacture  cottons 
as  cheap  as  the  British.  This  position  refuted. 
Cost  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  of  sup- 
porting the  cotton  manufacture 285 

XC.  The  Salt  duty.  Remarks  on  the  speech  of  Mr. 
Maxwell  in  Congress.  Congress  not  pledged  to 
sustain  the  vested  interests  of  the  few,  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  interests  of  the  many 291 

XCI.  Probable  course  of  the  restrictive  party.  Right  of 
Congress  to  lay  protecting  duties  denied.  Should 
the  next  session  of  Congress  pass  without  a  re- 
duction of  duties,  the  cause  of  free  trade  will  be 
lost.  Great  indifference  of  the  commercial  cities 
upon  the  subject.  We  look  to  the  agriculturists 
for  rescue  from  the  restrictive  system      -     -     .  294 

XCII.  The  trade  of  the  Western  country.  Practical  ope- 
ration of 299 

XCIII.  The  coasting  trade.    Causes  of  its  great  increase. 

Shewn  not  to  arise  from  the  restrictive  system  -  300 

XCIV.  The  city  of  Pittsburg.     Causes  of  its  growth  and 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS.  XVU 

ESSAYS. 

prosperity  as  a  manufacturing  town.     Shewn  not 

to  be  due  to  restrictive  laws 303 

XCV.  The  consumption  of  foreign  commodities  gives  em- 
j  ployment  to  home  industry  as  much  as  the  con- 
I  sumption  of  domestic  products 307 

XCVI.The  present  crisis  calls  for  increased  efforts  on  the 
part  of  the  friends  of  free  trade.  The  tax  paid 
by  Pennsylvania  for  the  support  of  the  American 
System,  far  exceeds  her  gains  from  it.  An  ac- 
count-current stated 309 

XCVII.  Reasons  why  restrictive  laws  have  been  esta- 
'blished  in  most  countries.   History  of  the  Excise 
System  in  the  United  States  in  1795   -     -     -     -  312 

XCVIII.  The  American  System  fallacy,  illustrated  by  the 

motion  of  a  steamboat 318 

XCIX.  Influence  of  a  judicious  expenditure  of  capital  upon 
the  welfare  of  society.  Comparison  of  the  three 
modes  in  which  incomes  are  usually  expended  -  319 
C.  Remarks  on  an  Address  of  a  member  of  Congress, 
from  Maryland.  Folly  exposed,  of  the  doctrine 
that  we  pay  money  for  British  goods.  Imports 
and  exports  of  gold  and  silver  for  five  years. 
Exports  to  the  British  West  Indies  -  .  .  .  322 
CI.  Nature  of  the  war  carried  on  between  the  friends 
of  free  trade  and  their  opponents.  Who  are  the 
parties  arrayed  on  each  side 325 

CII.   Error  of  ascribing  the  fall  in  the  prices  of  goods  to 

the  Tariff.     True  cause  pointed  out    ....  327 

cm.  The  Cotton  manufacture.  Remarks  upon  a  com- 
munication from  a  manufacturer  under  the  sig- 
nature of  Statist.  Imports  and  exports  of  Cotton 
goods,  plain  and  coloured.  Fallacy  of  the  doc- 
trine that  foreign  articles  are  driven  out  of  the 
American  market  by  the  superior  quality  of  the 
domestic  goods,  when,  in  fact,  they  are  shut  out 
by  prohibition 329 

CIV.  Importance  of  the  study  of  Political  Economy  to 
private  individuals  as  well  as  to  public  men. 
Evils  resulting  to  the  community  from  the  want 
of  understanding  the  operation  of  poor  laws,  and 
from  misapplied  philanthropy 333 

CV.  The  Message  of  the  Governor  of  Connecticut,  in 
which  many  fallacies  appear  as  to  the  Restric- 
tive System,  examined,  and  its  errors  pointed  out. 
The  doctrine  of  the  home  and  foreign  markets, 
as  held  by  the  advocates  of  restriction,  shewn  to 
be  fallacious 335 


XVlll  TABLE   OF    CONTENTS. 

ESSAYS. 

CVI.  Letter  from  Mr.  Clay  to  some  manufacturers  in 
Pittsburg,  in  answer  to  one,  accompanied  by  a 
present  of  some  articles  of  domestic  manufacture. 
Doctrines  of,  examined.  Amount  of  revenue 
collected  from  1815  to  1829.  Imports  and  exports 
of  certain  years.     Tonnage  from  1815  to  1829-  340 

CVII.  Horse  shoes  imported  ready  made.  Cost  of,  shewn 
by  reference  to  an  invoice.  Foreign  pig  iron  im- 
ported as  necessary  to  make  machinery  for  do- 
mestic manufactures,  so  that  the  duty  upon  it  of 
fifty  per  cent,  is  at  war  with  the  American  Sys- 
tem     351 

CVIII.  Political  Arithmeticians.  The  cotton  manufactures 
shewn  to  be  a  heavy  tax  on  the  country.  Ho- 
cus-pocus of  Statistical  Ta^^les 354 

CIX.  The  manufacture  of  houses,  as  a  branch  of  busi- 
ness, greatly  injured  by  the  duties  on  iron,  glass, 
ii'on-mongerj',  paints,  and  other  materials  re- 
quired for  building 357 

ex.  Proceedings  of  a  Convention  of  Wool  Growers. 
Examination  of  one  of  the  Reports  made  thereto. 
Doctrine  of  Minimums  explained.  Frauds  upon 
the  revenue 360 

CXI.  Free  Trade  Convention  proposed,  to  be  held  at 

Philadelphia 366 

CXII.  A  Camel's  hair  Shawl  shewn  to  be  the  product  of 
domestic  industry,  although  manufactured  in  In- 
dia        368 

CXIII.  Political  Economy  for  the  Ladies.  Tax  upon  Car- 
pets, and  Floor-cloths — operation  of  -     -     -     -  370 

CXIV.  Imports  and  Exports  inseparably  connected  ;  one 
cannot  exist  without  the  other.  Commerce  an 
exchange  of  equivalents 372 

CXV.  The  culture  of  Silk.  Remarks  upon  a  letter  of 
David  Porter,  Esq.  Folly  exposed,  of  forcing 
the  manufacture  of  Silk 375 

CXVI.  British  Corn  Laws.  Impolicy  of,  shewn.  Simi- 
larity between  laws  for  the  protection  oi  Corn, 
and  of  Iron 377 

CXVII.  Importance  of  Iron  as  a  metal.  Impolicy  of  an 
artificial  augmentation  of  its  price.  Pennsylva- 
nia injured,  instead  of  being  benefited  by  the  duty 
on  Iron .--  379 

CXVIII.The  tabac  de  mille  fleurs.  Extent  of  the  tax  im- 
posed on  the  people  of  the  United  States,  for  the 
support  of  the  Cotton  and  Woollen,  Iron  and  Su- 
gar manufacturers 381 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS.  XIX 

ESSAYS. 

CXIX.  The  employment  of  a  great  number  of  labourers 

i  not  always  a  proof  of  prosperity.     This  proved, 

in  reference  to  the  manufactories  of  Great  Falls 

Village.     Amount  of  tax  imposed  on  the  public 

for  their  support 385 

CXX.  Vested  Interests ;  true  character  of.  The  poor 
have  as  much  right  to  be  protected  in  theirs,  as 
the  rich  have 391 

CXXI.  Remarks  on  Mr.  Clay's  Speech  in  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States,  delivered  on  the  11th  of  Ja- 
nuary, 1832,  in  favour  of  reducing  certain  du- 
ties, and  altering  the  Tariff   393 

CXXII.  National  Independence ;   true  nature  of.     The 
mutual  dependence  of  nations  upon  each  other,  re- 
i  suiting  from  commerce,  dishonourable  to  neither  403 

CXXIH.  The  Vested  Interests  of  the  few  not  to  be  up- 
I  held  by  the  sacrifice  of  the  interests  of  the  many; 
I  this  position  sustained  by  reference  to  many  well 
known  cases 406 

CXXIV.  The  Flour  Trade  of  the  United  States.  Quan- 
tity shipped  to  Great  Britain  and  her  colonies  -  408 

CXXV.  The  Cotton  nnanufacture.  Statistics  of,  in  the 
United  States,  as  published  by  the  New  York 
Tariff  Convention.  Tax  imposed  for  the  support 
of,  upon  consumers --  410 

CXXVI.  The  natural  protection  against  foreign  competi- 
tion enjoyed  by  the  industry  of  the  United  States, 
from  geographical  position,  and  the  bulky  nature 
of  their  productions,  shown 413 

CXXVII.  Anti-Christian  character  of  the  American  System  416 
iCXXVIII.  A  few  Short  Answers  to  Tariff  Arguments  -  418 

CXXIX.  The  duty  on  Bar  Iron.     No  one  gains  by  it  but 

the  owners  of  iron  mines 420 

CXXX.  The  effects  of  domestic  competition  on  the  prices 
of  foreign  manufactures  at  the  places  of  their 
production 421 

CXXXI.  The  forced  consumption  of  Cotton  in  the  United 
States,  occasions  a  diminution  of  the  foreign  de- 
mand to  a  much  greater  extent 425 

CXXXII.  Closing  Address  of  the  Editor,  on  the  disconti- 
nuance of  the  Banner  of  the  Constitution.  Re- 
trospective View  of  the  progress  made  by  the 
Cr  cause  of  Free  Trade  during  the  four  last  years  426 
The  Compromise  Act. — An  Act  to  modify  the  act  of  the 
. fourteenth  of  July,  one  thousand  eight  hundred 

and  thirty-two,  and  all  other  acts  imposing  du- 
ties on  imports -130 


CONTENTS  OF  APPENDIX. 


A.  Minutes  of  the  Meeting  referred  to  at  page  366, 

which  called  the  Free  Trade  Convention    -   -   -  433 

B.  Names  of  the  members  of  the  Free  Trade  Con- 

vention, which  assembled  at   Philadelphia,  in 
1831 - -  434 

C.  Table  of  imports  and  exports  of  the  United  States, 

from  1789  to  1839 437 


ESSAYS 


PRINCIPLES  OF  FREE  TRADE. 


ESSAY  No.  I. 


DECEMBER  5,  1829. 


Introductory  remarks.     General  propositions    connected  with 
Free   Trade,  to  he  established  by  these  essays. 

THE  last  number  of  the  "  Free  Trade  Advocate,"  a  jour- 
nal commenced  in  January  of  the  present  year,  and  continued 
weekly  at  Philadelphia,  was  published  in  that  city  on  Saturday 
last,  the  28th  of  November,  and,  agreeably  to  the  arrangement 
sometime  since  announced,  we  now  offer  to  the  patronage  of 
the  public,  the  first  number  of  the  "  Banner  of  the  Constitu- 
tion," which  will  persevere  in  the  support  of  the  same  princi- 
ples, as  those  which  were  maintained  by  its  predecessor. 

To  those  who  were  not  subscribers  to  the  Free  Trade  Ad- 
vocate, it  may  be  proper  upon  this  occasion  to  state,  that  that 
journal  was  establislied  chiefly  with  the  design  of  dissemina- 
ting sound  views  of  pohtical  economy  in  relation  to  the  re- 
strictive system,  banking,  currency,  exchange,  the  balance  of 
trade,  the  exportation  of  coin,  the  relative  value  of  gold  and 
silver,  and  the  various  other  branches  of  the  science,  which  are 
essential  to  be  understood,  in  order  to  secure  correct  legisla- 
tion. It  was  conceived  by  its  editor,  acting  in  conjunction  with 
a  number  of  zealous  and  enlightened  friends  of  both  the  great 
political  parties,  that  a  proper  understanding  of  these  topics 
was  so  intimately  connected  with  the  prosperity  of  the  people, 
and  the  perpetuity  of  this  confederation  of  Republics,  that  an 
effort  to  draw  the  public  attention  towards  a  temperate  and 
argumentative  discussion,  would  be  attended  with  at  least  the 
salutary  effect  of  inducing  many  to  examine  for  themselves, 
who  had  before  formed  their  political  opinions  upon  the  judg- 
ment of  others,  without  that  mature  investigation,  by  which 
A  1 


Ai  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

alone  the  truths  of  any  science  can  be  estabUshed.  How  far 
our  efforts  have  succeeded,  we  leave  to  the  judgment  of  those 
who  have  witnessed  the  progress  of  our  work,  and  if  their  de- 
cision be  adverse  to  any  claims  on  our  part,  on  the  score  of 
successful  exertion,  they  will  at  least  not  deny  us  the  merit  of 
having  displayed  an  untiring  zeal  and  devotion  to  the  cause. 

That  the  Free  Trade  party  has  gained  an  accession  of 
strength,  since  the  passage  of  the  last  tariff  law,  can  scarcely 
■  be  doubted.  The  admission  of  the  fact  is  every  where  to  be 
seen,  in  the  alarm  evinced  by  the  advocates  of  restriction,  lest 
during  the  approaching  session  of  Congress,  they  should  be 
placed,  ^or  the  first  time  since  the  formation  of  the  government, 
upon  the  defensive.  It  was  displayed  in  a  recent  proposition 
submitted  to  the  Legislature  of  New-Jersey,  to  instruct  the 
representatives  of  that  state  in  Congress,  to  oppose  any  change 
of  the  tariff.  It  was  displayed  in  several  speeches  dehvered  at 
the  Eastward  on  the  4th  of  July  last,  in  which  denunciations 
against  the  South,  and  vindictiveness  against  all  who  were  in- 
fluenced by  the  patriotic  and  benevolent  wish,  of  seeing  the 
labouring  classes  exempt  from  unjust  and  unequal  burthens, 
were  too  conspicuous  to  have  flowed  from  the  mere  feelings  of 
triumph  over  a  conquered  opponent,  and  it  continues  to  be 
displayed,  in  the  unceasing  efforts  of  certain  journalists,  to  iden- 
tify the  anti-tariff  party  with  the  actual  administration  party, 
when,  it  is  well  known  that,  in  many  of  our  cities,  some  of  the 
most  strenuous  supporters  of  the  free  trade  policy,  are  not  the 
friends  of  the  administration. 

Be  this,  however,  as  it  may,  it  is  manifest,  that,  let  the  ground 
be  much  or  little,  which  has  been  gained  by  the  advocates  of  un- 
trammelled industry,  that  ground  ought  not  to  be  lost  through 
any  relaxation  of  effort.  The  moment  is  propitious  for  push- 
ing on  the  conquest,  and  whilst  the  champions  who  are  placed 
within  the  walls  of  the  capitol,  are  waging  war  in  the  front  of 
the  battle,  let  ours  be  the  humbler  task  of  skirmishing  with  the 
outposts.  Nothing  is  wanted  to  overthrow  the  whole  delusion 
which  has  been  imposed  upon  the  American  people  as  a  wise 
and  judicious  course  of  policy,  but  a  dispassionate  and  unpre- 
judiced examination  of  its  real  character,  when  divested  of  the 
false  theories  upon  which  it  is  built.  Such  an  examination 
would  shew — 

That  individuals  are  better  judges  of  the  most  advantageous 
mode  of  employing  their  labour  and  capital,  than  governments — 

That  wealth  cannot  be  created  by  the  mere  enactment  of 
laws — 

That  commerce  is  an  exchange  of  equivalents  not  merely 
beneficial  to  one  of  the  parties  which  carries  it  on,  but  to  both, 
by  enabling  each  to  exchange  with  the  other,  those  products 
which  it  can  furnish  upon  the  most  favourable  terms — 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  d 

That  commerce  must  be  reciprocal,  and  consequently,  that 
when  one  nation  restricts  its  trade  with  another,  and  says,  "  I 
will  not  buy,"  she  declares  in  the  same  words,  "  I  will  not  sell." 

That  as  far  as  foreign  nations  refuse  to  take  our  produc- 
tions, they  ipso  facto,  and  without  requiring  any  laws  on  our 
part  to  enforce  a  retaliation,  absolutely  deprive  us  of  the  power 
to  take  their  productions — 

That  it  is  an  error,  to  suppose  that  free  trade  is  only  advan- 
tageous when  adopted  by  all  nations,  and  that  the  interests  of  a 
country  are  to  be  promoted  by  counter  restrictions — 

That  commerce  being  an  exchange  of  domestic  products  for 
foreign  products,  gives  employment  to  domestic  industry,  inas- 
much as  foreign  products  can  only  be  paid  for  with  domestic 
products — 

That  all  high  duties  exclude  a  portion,  or  the  whole,  of  the 
articles  upon  which  they  are  laid,  by  raising  their  price  to  the 
consumer,  or,  what  is  the  same  thing,  by  preventing  the  price 
from  falling  as  low  as  it  would  otherwise  fall,  were  it  not  for 
the  duty,  as  is  the  case  noir,  with  all  articles  made  of  wool,  cot- 
ton, iron,  and  many  other  things — 

That  this  enhanced  price  is  a  real  tax  upon  the  consumer, 
which  goes  into  the  pocket  of  the  favoured  monopolist,  not  al- 
ways, indeed,  increasing  his  wealth,  but  preventing  his  loss  from 
being  as  great  as  it  would  be,  did  the  high  duty  not  exist — 

That  the  great  fall  which  has  taken  place  since  the  year 
1816,  in  many  articles  of  manufacture,  has  resulted  chiefly 
from  the  great  improvements  in  labour-saving  machinery 
which  have  progressed  not  only  in  this  countiy  but  in  Europe, 
and  which  in  England  have  advanced  so  rapidly,  that  we  are 
informed,  in  late  papers,  that  an  article  for  the  manufacture  of 
which,  2s.  6d.  used  formerly  to  be  paid,  can  now  be  had,  mate- 
rials and  all,  for  5d. — 

That  the  complaint  of  the  manufacturers  that  the  duties  are 
not  high  enough,  is  positive  proof  that  foreign  fabrics  can  be 
imported  cheaper  than  they  can  be  made  at  home,  and,  conse- 
quently, that  there  is  a  want  of  consistency  in  the  conduct  of 
those  who  assert  that  the  tariff  system  brings  down  prices, 
whilst,  at  the  same  time,  they  demand  more  duties,  and  thus 
appear  to  court  their  own  ruin — 

That  all  artificial  modes  of  raising  prices,  or,  of  preventing 
them  from  falling,  are  oppressions  upon  the  poor  and  labouring 
classes,  inasmuch  as  they  are  compelled  to  pay  for  the  neces- 
saries of  life  a  higher  price  than  they  would  otherwise  have  to 
pay,  whilst  the  demand  for  their  labour  is  diminished,  from  the 
circumstance  that  their  employers,  being  themselves  also  obli- 
ged to  give  more  for  the  articles  of  which  they  stand  in  need, 
have  less  means  of  giving  employment  to  others  than  they 
would  otherwise  possess — 


4  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

That  all  restrictive  laws  retard  the  gradual  increase  of  capi- 
tal, by  rendering  the  producing  faculties  of  the  community  less 
productive,  and  thus  prevent  that  rapid  accumulation  of  wealth, 
in  which  alone  is  to  be  found  the  means  of  allbrding  employ- 
ment to  an  increasing  population — 

That  restrictive  laws,  by  compelling  people  to  abandon  pur- 
suits in  which  they  find  it  their  interest  to  labour,  and  to  follow 
others,  which  are  only  made  ])rofitable  to  them  by  laying  con- 
tributions upon  all  the  rest  of  the  community,  operate  precisely 
like  laws  which  should  compel  A,  without  an  equivalent,  to 
contribute  to  the  support  of  B,  who  has  not  even  the  merit  of 
being  entitled  to  such  support,  as  a  public  pauper — 

That  restrictive  laws  operate  upon  the  body  politic  as  cords 
and  bandages  do  upon  the  body  natural,  and  equally  diminish 
the  power  of  production — 

That  restrictive  laws  operate  precisely  in  the  same  manner 
as  a  law  would  operate,  which  should  enact  that  a  man  with 
two  hands  should  only  labour  wdth  one — that  a  farmer  who 
could  work  with  a  plough,  should  dig  with  a  spade — that  the 
owner  of  a  cotton  factory  who  has  mules  and  spindles,  should 
spin  with  the  distafl' — that  a  wood-cutter  should  chop  trees  with 
a  dull  axe  instead  of  a  sharp  one — or,  that  a  taylor  should  sew 
with  a  blunt  needle  instead  of  a  sharp-pointed  one — and,  finally, 

That  the  term  "  American  System,"  is  a  misnomer  for  what 
is  notiiing  but  the  antiquated  "  British  System,"  and  that  its 
employment,  for  political  party  purposes,  is  a  fraud  upon  the 
honest  and  patriotic  feeling  of  the  nation,  devised  for  the  pur- 
pose of  appealing  to  the  prejudices  of  the  people  upon  a  subject, 
upon  which  their  understandings  alone  should  be  addressed. 

These,  and  many  other  truths  of  similar  import,  we  shall 
undertake  to  establish  in  this  paper,  to  the  satisfaction,  w^e  trust, 
of  any  individual  who  holds  himself  subject  to  the  rule,  that 
conclusions,  logically  drawn  from  premises,  are  not  liable  to  be 
rejected  or  admitted  at  the  pleasure  of  the  reader,  but  must  be 
admitted  as  data  for  subsequent  arguments. 

In  the  discussion  of  questions  of  political  economy,  it  is  ma- 
nifest that  much  abstract  reasoning,  as  in  other  sciences,  is 
necessary  for  a  complete  understanding  of  them.  Such  rea- 
soning, however,  is  only  adapted  to  the  studies  of  compari- 
tively  few,  such,  for  example,  as  those  who  are  selected  for  their 
supposed  wisdom'  in  the  science  of  government,  to  make  laws 
for  the  nation.  The  great  mass  of  readers  have  neither  a  taste 
nor  an  inclination  for  severe  investigation,  and,  on  this  account, 
,  whilst  we  must  not  lose  sight  of  the  duty  of  offering  up  a  regu- 
lar repast  for  those  who  delight  in  strong  food,  we  shall  study, 
as  much  as  possible,  the  palate  of  those  who  can  only  digest  a 
moderate  and  diluted  portion  of  scientific  truth. 


OF    FREE    TRADE. 


ESSAY    No.  II. 


JANUARY   9,   1830. 


Remarks  071  the  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Mcmufactures,  made 
to  the  House  of  Representatives  on  the  5th  of  January,  1830. 
Impnssihilitu  ^f  protecting  one  branch  of  industry  ivithout 
injuring  otners.  Observations  on  the  phrase  "  The  encour- 
agement of  manufactures,"  employed  in  the  preaiiible  to  the 
Revenue  Act  of  1789.  Smuggling.  Downfall  of  the  Ameri- 
can System  foretold. 

IN  our  last  paper  we  gave  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on 
Manufactures,  made  to  the  House  of  Representatives  on  the  5th 
inst.  on  the  subject  of  the  Tariti',  in  which  it  was  declared  to  be 
the  opinion  of  the  committee,  that  "  it  is  inexpedient,  at  the  pre- 
sent time,  to  make  any  change  in  the  existing  laws  intended  for 
the  aid  and  protection  of  domestic  industry."  This  opinion 
may  be  regarded  as  evidence  of  the  sense  of  a  majority  of  the 
committee,  who  are  favourable  to  protective  laws,  and  is  im- 
portant in  one  point  of  view.  It  establishes  the  fact,  that  the 
American  System  has  been  brought  to  a  halt,  and  we  consider 
that  the  friends  of  agricultural  and  commercial  freedom,  have 
cause  to  congratulate  themselves  upon  this  auspicious  symp- 
tom. If  high  duties  are  calculated  to  augment  the  wealth  of 
the  nation,  and  promote  the  prosperity  of  the  people,  why  hesi- 
tate to  push  onward,  when  the  cry  of  all  the  woollen  manufac- 
turers is.  We  are  not  sufficiently  protected  ?  If  adoubhng  of  the 
duties  on  low-priced  woollens,  be  essential  to  the  salvation  of  the 
manufacturers,  as  has  been  over  and  over  again  proclaimed  by 
their  most  distinguished  champions,  why  not  abolish  the  one 
dollar  minimum,  and  thus  accomplish  that  which  has  been  the 
burthen  of  the  writings  and  speeches  of  editors  and  orators 
for  a  year  past  1  But  no :  The  report  in  question  recommends 
an  abstaining  from  all  movements,  and  as  this  is  the  first  in- 
stance since  1816,  of  a  hesitancy,  on  the  part  of  the  advocates 
of  restriction,  to  push  still  further  their  favourite  policy,  it  may 
be  regarded  as  evidence  of  doubt  as  to  the  efficiency  of  the 
American  System,  or  as  to  their  power  to  extend  its  desolating 
influence. 

With  these  preliminary  remarks,  we  shall  take  the  liberty  of 
commenting  on  such  parts  of  the  report  as  strike  us  as  being 
particularly  open  to  criticism. 

The  committee  sa.j,  in  reference  to  the  applications  for  pro- 
tection from  different  interests — "  To  do  justice  to  all,  and  in- 
jury to  none,  was  a  delicate  and  difficult  undertaking."  In  this 
position,  we  differ  from  the  committee.  It  was  one  of  the 
easiest  and  most  simple  tasks  imaginable.  But  it  could  be  ac- 
A* 


B  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

complished  only  by  one  mode,  and  that  mode  was  to  abstain 
from  granting  tlie  re(}uest  of  either.  If  there  be  any  doubt  on 
this  subject,  we  tliink  it  can  be  removed  by  a  sHght  attention  to 
a  very  simple  illustration.  A  hatter  says  to  Congress,  "  I  wish 
a  monopoly — I  want  a  law  which  sliall  prohibit  all  other  per- 
sons from  selling  hats."  Says  the  shoemaker,  "  I  have  no  ob- 
jections that  the  hatter  shall  charge  every  body  double  price 
for  his  hats,  as  I  only  wear  one  in  a  year,  provided  that  Con- 
gress will  prohibit  all  persons  but  me  from  selling  shoes."  Says 
the  tailor,  "  I  will  agree  that  the  hatter  and  shoemaker  may 
both  tax  the  whole  nation  for  their  hats  and  shoes,  provided 
that  an  equal  protection  be  extended  to  me,  by  prohibiting  every 
body  from  making  clothes  but  me."  Congress  listens  to  their 
pretensions,  and  grants  them  the  desired  monopolies.  Now,  how 
does  the  matter  stand  ?  The  hatter  pays  the  shoemaker  and 
the  tailor  a  tax,  upon  what  he  consumes  of  their  fabrics,  but,  as 
a  remuneration  for  this,  he  compels  all  the  rest  of  his  customers 
to  pay  a  tax  to  him.  The  shoemaker  and  the  tailor  do  the 
same  thing.  Now  if  this  sort  o{  protection,  or  monopoly,  were 
extended  through  the  whole  circle  of  employments, — if  each 
individual  were  bound  to  pay  to  others  as  much  as  others  paid 
to  him,  then  the  protection  would  be  equak  What  a  man  paid 
out  of  one  pocket,  would  be  paid  back  into  the  other,  and  each 
one,  at  the  end  of  the  year,  would  stand  in  the  same  relative 
position,  with  this  difference,  however,  that  each  would  have 
had  fewer  of  the  comforts  and  necessaries  of  life,  than  if  com- 
petition had  been  left  free.  But  for  protection  to  be  equal,  all 
employments  must  have  monopolies,  and  as  all  cannot  have 
them,  it  follows,  that  "justice  to  all  and  injury  to  none,"  can 
never  be  the  result  of  protective  laws.  Laissez-nous  faire,  is  the 
only  sound  doctrine  in  such  cases,  and  to  suppose  that  laws, 
which  authorize  a  dozen  trades  to  levy  contributions  upon  six 
hundred,  are  equal  or  just  in  their  operation,  is  just  as  rational 
as  to  suppose  that  it  would  be  advantageous  for  a  community 
that  every  fiftieth  man  should  be  allowed  to  rob  all  the  rest ; 
for  it  can  readily  be  seen,  that  there  could  be  no  equal  justice 
in  the  case,  unless  each  individual  was  allowed  to  rob  all  the 
others.  Now  if  the  question  were  fairly  put,  shall  each  man  in 
the  land  be  allowed  to  plunder  all  the  others,  or  shall  each  be 
protected  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  property,  which  of  the  two 
propositions  would  be  most  likely  to  be  adopted  1  The  answer 
to  this  can  be  but  in  favour  of  the  latter,  and  this  is  the  answer 
which  Congress  ought  to  have  given  to  the  applicants  for  pro- 
tection. 

But  was  "  the  tariff  of  1828,  adopted  as  the  best  measure, 
under  all  circumstances,  that  could  be  devised  to  accomplish 
the  desired  object?"  We  think  not.  In  some  particulars  it  de- 
feated the  objects  for  which  it  was  ostensibly  enacted.     It  im- 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  * 

posed  high  duties  upon  manufactures,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
high  duties  upon  the  foreign  materials,  without  which  they 
could  not  be  made.  It  thus  destroyed  the  interest  it  was  de- 
signed to  uphold.  It  may  perhaps  have  been  the  only  measure, 
which,  "  under  all  circumstances,"  could  have  been  extorted 
from  a  majority  of  Congress.  But  it  contained  as  much  bitter 
as  sweet,  as  much  poison  as  honey ;  and  this  sad  and  solemn 
truth  is  now  known  to  many,  who,  so  far  from  regarding  it  as 
a  measure  advantageous  to  the  manufacturing  interest,  have 
stigmatized  it  as  "  the  bill  of  abominations."  So  fully  are  we 
of  the  opinion,  that  this  epithet  is  an  appropriate  one,  that  we 
do  not  believe  there  is  in  the  whole  law  a  single  provision, 
which,  by  itself,  would  have  had  a  majority  of  Congress  in  its 
favour.  And  shall  such  a  monster,  without  a  single  feature  al- 
lowed to  be  symmetrical  by  a  majority  of  those  who  were  pre- 
sent at  its  birth,  be  held  up  as  an  idol,  which  it  would  be  sac- 
rilege to  touch  ? 

But  "  it  is  now  the  law  of  the  land."  This,  unfortunately,  is 
but  too  true,  but  we  hope  it  will  not  long  remain  so.  Indeed 
we  think  it  cannot  so  continue  for  two  years  longer,  if  the  ca- 
lamities experienced  in  the  manufacturing  districts  be  as  ex- 
tensive as  represented.  Smuggling  is  now  making  rapid 
strides  towards  a  fixed  residence  among  us,  and  we  shall  be 
greatly  mistaken,  if  another  season  does  not  witness  New  Eng- 
land herself  coming  to  her  senses,  and  calling  out  for  the  statu 
quo  ante. 

The  committee  think,  "  that  any  effort  to  change  existing 
provisions,  at  the  present  time,  would  be  wholly  unsuccessful." 
That  is  indeed  quite  probable.  All  attempts  to  repeal  portions 
of  the  law,  which  have  been  found  hurtful  to  particular  inte- 
rests, would  meet  with  the  undivided  opposition  of  the  mem- 
bers from  the  anti-tarifi'  states.  Whenever  a  sense  of  justice 
shall  operate  upon  the  North,  and  induce  its  representatives  to 
propose  a  modification,  which  "  shall  do  justice  to  all,"  they 
will  find  a  host  ready  to  join  with  them  in  releasing  the  coun- 
try from  her  shackles.  And  yet,  notwithstanding  the  convic- 
tion of  the  committee,  that  any  effort  at  modification  would  be 
unsuccessful,  we  are  fully  persuaded,  that  there  is  not  in  the 
law,  a  single  duty,  which,  if  presented  by  itself,  would  not  find 
a  majority  in  favour  of  its  repeal. 

"  Great  apprehension  has  been  entertained  that  the  protecting 
policy  would,  eventually,  be  abandoned."  And  with  good  rea- 
son. The  more  its  true  character  is  known,  the  more  must 
the  people  be  convinced,  that  its  tendency  is  to  subvert  the  best 
interests  of  the  country.  Knowing  this  fact,  are  not  apprehen- 
sions very  natural,  with  those  whose  fortunes  are  placed  at  the 
disposal  of  the  popular  breath  1  And  is  it  not  a  happy  thing 
for  the  country,  that  the  instabiUty  of  the  system,  operates  ia 


8  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

restraining  others  from  committing  theirs  to  the  same  uncertain 
tenure  ?  What  sure  guarantee  can  exist,  in  a  representative 
government,  for  the  continuance  of  a  system,  ascertained  by  a 
majority,  for  the  time  being,  to  be  injurious  to  the  interests  of 
the  nation  ?  There  can  be  none,  and  consequently  there  never 
can  be  a  character  of  stability  imprinted  on  that  policy,  which 
is  believed,  by  a  vast  portion  of  the  most  intelligent  people,  to 
be  hostile  to  the  public  prosperity  ;  and,  as  we  believe  that  the 
existing  tariff  law  is  opposed  to  sound  poHcy,  we  shall  ever  use 
our  feeble  endeavours  to  repudiate  the  doctrine,  so  confidently 
laid  down  by  the  committee,  that  "  nothing  should  be  attempted 
that  can,  at  home  or  abroad,  be  considered  as  giving  the  least 
countenance  to  the  opinion  or  belief,  that  a  hostile  change  will 
ever  be  effected,"  We  believe  that  such  a  change  will  be  ef- 
fected, and  we  further  believe,  that  the  proposition  to  effect  it, 
will  proceed  from  a  portion  of  the  very  individuals  who  have, 
to  their  sorrow,  fastened  the  system  upon  themselves  and  the 
country. 

In  a  report  proceeding  from  a  committee  containing  a  ma- 
jority of  advocates  of  protective  laws,  we  are  not  surprised  to 
find  the  fallacies  of  the  restrictive  system  relied  upon  as  argu- 
ments. We  have  here  the  old  doctrine  of  foreigners  selling  us 
their  goods  for  next  to  nothing,  presented  to  us  as  a  national  evil. 
The  Committee  are  of  opinion,  that  if  it  was  thought  by  foreign 
nations  that  we  were  not  bound  neck  and  heels  by  the  cords  of 
the  restrictive  system,  they  would  force  their  fabrics  upon  us, 
"  let  the  losses  and  sacrifices  be  ever  so  great."  This  is  all 
delusion.  Foreign  nations  have  no  goods  to  dispose  of  in  so 
silly  a  manner.  And  as  to  individual  manufacturers,  very  few 
of  them  could  afford  to  play  at  so  losing  a  game  for  any  length 
of  time.  We  should  like  to  know  whether  it  is  probable  that 
the  manufacturers  of  New  England  would  be  guilty  of  the  folly 
of  giving  their  goods  for  half  price  to  the  inhabitants  of  South 
Carolina  and  Virginia,  in  order  to  break  down  the  cotton  ma- 
nufactures which  some  few  individuals  have  been  there  recently 
establishing.  If  so,  we  should  Uke  to  know  how  they  would 
combine,  and  how  long  and  how  much  they  would  be  willing 
to  contribute  to  this  prostrating  fund  1  The  idea  of  such  delibe- 
rate folly,  as  shipping  goods  to  a  known  certain  loss,  is  a  fiction 
of  the  American  System,  and  it  has  been  so  often  repeated, 
that  many  persons  take  it  as  a  fact  which  ought  not  to  be 
doubted. 

But  the  committee  say,  "  It  should  be  kept  in  mind,  that  the 
determination  to  protect  the  industry  of  this  country,  as  far  and 
as  fast  as  circumstances  would  allow,  has  existed  ever  since 
the  formation  of  our  government."  We  admit  the  position,  so 
far  as  it  refers  to  the  acts  of  the  government  prior  to  the  com- 
mencement of  the  restrictive  poHcy ;  but  we  deny  it,  as  relates 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  9 

to  a  subsequent  period.  During  the  former  epoch,  agriculture, 
commerce  and  manufactures,  which  conjointly  constitute  the 
industry  of  the  country,  were  left  in  a  state  of  freedom.  The 
agriculturist,  the  merchant  and  the  manufacturer,  were  at  liberty 
to  direct  their  capital  and  labour  to  any  pursuit,  which  to  them 
might  appear  to  be  most  advantageous.  Duties  were  imposed 
for  the  legitimate  purposes  of  revenue  alone,  and  were  upon  a 
scale  so  moderate,  that  no  artificial  excitement  existed,  to  force 
into  being  any  branches  of  industry  but  those,  and  they  were 
not  a  few,  which  the  natural  course  of  things  demanded.  In 
this  manner,  the  industry  of  the  country  was  protected.  During 
the  latter  period,  on  the  other  hand,  "  the  industry  of  the  coun- 
try" has  not  been  protected.  The  industry  of  manufacturers 
and  of  wool  growers,  and  iron  masters,  has  alone  received  the 
protection  of  the  government.  To  call  these  few  interests, 
which,  to  all  the  interests  of  the  nation,  bear  an  insignificant 
proportion,  "  the  industry  of  the  country,"  is  a  sheer  7nisnomer. 
As  well  might  the  hatter,  the  shoe-maker  and  the  tailor  we  have 
referred  to  above,  pretend,  that  "  the  industry  of  the  country" 
was  protected  by  their  monopolies.  We  know  very  well,  that 
the  committee  had  their  eye  upon  the  preamble  to  the  first  act 
of  Congress,  which  assigns  "  the  encouragement  of  manufac- 
tures" as  one  of  the  motives  of  imposing  a  duty  upon  cotton 
and  w^oollen  fabrics  of  five  per  cent.  But  who  cannot  perceive, 
that  the  introduction  of  that  phrase  into  the  preamble  was  a 
mere  expedient  to  render  palateable  to  the  people,  even  so  small 
a  duty,  and  one  too  imperiously  called  for  by  the  exigencies 
of  the  government.  Can  any  man  seriously  believe,  w^ho  re- 
flects that,  at  the  present  day,  when,  by  the  aid  of  machinery 
the  inequalities  of  the  wages  of  labour  in  different  countries  is 
so  materially  diminished,  and  who.  adverts  to  the  fact  that,  from 
fifty  to  two  hundred  and  twenty  five  per  cent,  duty  is  required  to 
enable  the  manufacturers  of  this  country  to  compete  with  those 
of  Great  Britain — can  any  man,  we  say,  seriously  believe  that, 
in  the  year  1789,  a  duty  of  five  per  cent,  could  have  been  in 
any  degree  imposed  for  the  purpose  of  encouraging  the  growth 
of  manufactures?  The  idea  is  preposterous,  and  this  will  be 
manifest  to  all  who  reflect  for  a  moment  upon  the  fact,  that, 
at  the  period  designated,  agriculture  was  so  clearly  the  natural 
and  most  profitable  channel  for  capital  and  labour  to  flow  in, 
that  higher  duties  would  then  have  been  required  to  divert 
them  from  that  employment,  than  are  required  at  the  present 
day.  Let  the  idea  then  be  for  ever  discarded,  as  unworthy  of 
reliance,  that  the  act  of  1789  was,  in  the  most  remote  degree, 
designed  for  the  protection  of  manufactures.  It  could  not  pos- 
sibly so  have  been,  if  the  application  of  means  to  an  end  was  a 
branch  of  knowledge  possessed  by  those  who  framed  it,  and  it 
is  evident,  that  the  absurdity  of  so  misplaced  a  reason  was  soon 


10  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

discovered,  for  it  was  omitted  in  the  next  act  on  the  same  sub- 
ject, and  has  never  since  been  restored. 

In  regard  to  frauds  on  the  revenue,  there  may  be,  and  there 
no  doubt  are,  strong  reasons  for  behoving  that  many  have  been 
practised.  Such  frauds  are  as  inseparable  from  high  duties,  as 
an  effect  is  inseparable  from  its  cause,  and  it  is  by  means  of 
these  very  frauds,  that  limits  are  placed  upon  the  power  of  go- 
vernors and  legislators,  which  restrain  them  in  their  tendency 
to  encroach  upon  the  rights  of  individuals.  We  have  no  doubt 
that  smuggling  is  fast  usurping  the  seat  of  lawful  commerce, 
and  we  are  equally  sure,  that  alter  it  shall,  by  a  continuance  of 
the  protection  which  is  now  so  generously  extended  to  it  by 
law,  (smuggling  being  the  branch  of  industry  most  highly  pro- 
tected,) become  fully  established,  it  can  never  afterwards  be 
eradicated  from  the  country.  The  man  whose  moral  feeling 
requires  two  hundred  per  cent,  to  tempt  him  to  dishonesty,  will, 
after  the  first  plunge,  be  willing  to  continue  in  crime  for  twenty 
per  cent.  And  yet  this  important  fact,  so  fully  established  by 
the  experience  of  all  Europe  and  South  America,  is  regarded 
by  the  manufacturers  of  this  country,  as  a  bug-bear  conjured 
up  by  their  opponents  for  the  purpose  of  exciting  their  fears. 
The  time,  however,  will  come,  when  they  will  reahze  the  truth 
of  the  solemn  warnings  which  have  been  reiterated  on  this 
point,  and  will  regret  that  the  morals  of  the  people,  the  only 
safe  barrier  against  frauds  upon  the  revenue,  had  been  tempted 
beyond  what  they  were  able  to  bear. 

In  the  last  paragraph  of  their  report,  the  committee  has 
thought  it  expedient  to  throw  out  a  suggestion,  probably  with 
the  view  of  quieting  those  who  have  been  clamorous  for  more 
of  the  "  American  System."  They  say,  "  The  alleged  evasions 
of  our  revenue  and  protecting  laws  require  an  immediate  and 
thorough  investigation.  If  they  are  found  to  exist,  the  most 
effectual  means  should  be  employed  to  prevent  them  in  future. 
When  this  is  done,  it  is  probable  all  may  be  satisfied  that 
higher  protecting  duties  should  not  be  required.  Until  this  is 
done,  it  is  impossible  to  determine  how  efficient  those  duties 
may  be  made  to  operate.  The  committee  have  already  pro- 
ceeded to  the  consideration  of  this  subject."  From  this,  we 
would  infer,  in  case  the  existing  frauds  should  be  found  to  be  of 
limited  extent,  and  in  case  it  should  appear,  that  the  glut  of  the 
market  and  the  consequent  fall  of  prices,  has  not  resulted  from 
evasions  of  the  laws,  as  much  as  from  other  causes,  that  then  it 
may  become  necessary  to  take  another  turn  at  the  windlass. 
In  other  words,  the  hope  is  indirectly  held  out,  that,  at  a  future 
day,  it  may  be  found  expedient  again  to  take  up  the  line  of 
march,  and  push  on  with  restrictions.  We  think,  however, 
that  no  such  onward  movement  will  be  again  urged  upon  Con- 
gress, with  any  reasonable  prospect  of  success.     The  Western 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  11 

states,  which  have  now  found  that  they  experience  no  benefit 
from  the  American  System,  but,  on  the  contrary,  a  positive  in- 
jury in  the  tendency  it  has  to  discourage  emigration  to  the 
West,  will  naturally  look  well  to  this  point,  and  regard  it  as 
adverse  to  that  growth  of  population  which  they  expect  will 
one  day  transfer  the  political  power  heretofore  wielded  by  the 
Atlantic  states,  to  the  regions  west  of  the  Alleghany.  Judging 
indeed,  from  what  we  see,  we  cannot  avoid  the  belief,  that  the 
day  is  not  distant,  when  a  multiplicity  of  questions,  involving 
interests  of  the  most  important  nature,  will  be  brought  to  bear 
upon  each  other,  and  in  the  conflict  which  is  to  ensue,  we  shall 
behold  the  American  System  crumble  into  atoms.  For  this  pro- 
phetic annunciation,  we  shall  perhaps  be  styled  visionary.  Be 
it  so.  We  have  no  hesitation  in  encountering  the  risk  of  so  be- 
ing thought,  by  those  who  shall  live  five  years  hence,  and  whom 
we  consider  to  be  the  only  competent  tribunal  to  pass  judgment 
in  such  a  matter.* 


ESSAY   No.    III. 


JANUARV   13,    1830. 


Rail  roads  and  Canals.  Impolicy  of  constructing  them  prema- 
turely. Principles  on  which  expenditures  should  he  regula- 
ted. Pennsylvania  will  be  obliged  to  resort  to  direct  taxation 
to  sustain  her  internal  improvement. 

THE  mania  for  rail-roads  and  canals,  which  has  latterly 
seized  upon  the  public  mind  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States,  as 
the  banking  mania  did  in  1814,  cannot  but  be  attended  with  the 
most  deleterious  effects.  In  this  country,  it  seems,  nothing  is 
done  upon  system,  and  the  great  mass  of  the  nation  actually 
believe  that,  the  more  we  have  of  a  good  thing,  the  better. 
Now,  although  this  be  true,  of  the  moral  virtues,  yet  it  is  not 
true  of  roads  and  canals.  One  rail-road,  or  one  canal,  may  be 
beneficial  to  the  community,  whilst  a  dozen  may  ruin  it.  This 
position,  we  are  aware,  will  be  regarded  by  many,  as  paradox- 
ical, and  therefore  needs  explanation. 

An  artificial  road  or  canal,  is  never  created  by  magic.  It 
can  only  result  from  the  expenditure  of  capital,  and  the  extent 
therefore  to  which  roads  and  canals  can  be  made,  without  en- 
croaching upon  the  fund  required  to  keep  in  constant  employ- 
ment the  various  branches  of  industry  which  unitedly  produce 
the  wealth  of  the  nation,  must  be  a  limited  extent.     If,  there- 

•Thi*  prophecy  was  fulfilled  in  the  year  1833. 


12  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

fore,  the  existing  wealth  of  a  state  be  such  as  to  bear  an  ab- 
traction  of  ten  niiiUons  of  dollars,  for  example,  without  touching 
upon  the  agricultural,  commercial  and  manufacturing  capital, 
which  can  be  i)rofitably  employed  by  the  farmers,  the  mer- 
chants, and  the  manufacturers  in  their  respective  pursuits,  such 
abstraction  may  be  made  with  great  advantage  to  the  public 
towards  the  construction  of  a  road  or  canal,  the  location  of 
which  is  such,  that  the  diminution  of  the  expense  in  the  trans- 
portation of  the  merchandize  and  produce  which  pass  along  its 
surface,  will  be  annually  equal  to  the  revenue  which  could  be 
derived  from  the  employment  of  the  same  capital  in  other  pur- 
suits. But  if  such  capital  cannot  be  spared  without  depriving 
existing  occupations  of  the  fund  requisite  to  enable  them  to  carry 
on  their  business  to  the  extent  to  which  it  could  be  profitably 
conducted,  it  may  happen,  that  more  injury  shall  be  sustained 
by  the  society  from  this  source,  than  can  be  compensated  by 
the  road  or  canal. 

A  proper  understanding  of  this  principle,  is  essential  for  all 
sound  legislation,  but  its  particular  application  must  be  left  to 
the  judgment  of  those  individuals  whose  capitals  are  to  be  de- 
voted to  the  work.  They,  and  they  alone,  are  the  best  judges 
of  the  most  profitable  direction  of  their  capitals,  and  if  they  err 
in  their  calculations,  they  have  nobody  to  blame  but  themselves. 
Although  it  be  true,  that  individual  speculations  of  this  sort 
have  otlen  failed,  yet  we  apprehend  that  this  has  been  princi- 
pally owing  to  the  facilities  afforded  by  the  state  governments, 
in  the  granting  of  charters  to  companies,  without  a  guarantee 
that  tlie  requisite  amount  of  capital  stock  to  complete  the  under- 
taking, could  be  raised  by  the  parties  applying  for  incorpora- 
tion. In  some  instances  the  work  has  been  commenced  before 
a  third  of  the  sum  required  to  accomplish  it  has  been  subscri- 
bed, and  the  consequence  has  been  that  a  delay  in  its  execu- 
tion has  annihilated  for  years  all  income  from  the  expenditure, 
which  is,  pro  tan  to,  a  sinking  of  capital — or,  that  it  has  been 
abandoned,  subject  to  a  total  loss  of  the  outlay — or,  that  the  ori- 
ginal subscribers  have  advanced  additional  sums,  not  upon  the 
principle  of  a  profitable  investment,  but  upon  the  principle  of 
sending  good  money  after  bad,  in  the  vain  hopes  of  its  over- 
taking and  bringing  it  back. 

In  cases  where  the  state  itself  undertakes  the  work,  as  in 
New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  the  same  reasoning,  precisely,  is 
applicable  ;  but  owing  to  the  greater  number  of  individuals  who 
contribute  to  all  public  works,  in  the  form  of  taxes,  direct  or 
indirect,  and  to  the  power  which  a  government  possesses  of 
compelling  posterity  to  pay  for  its  follies,  the  evil  is  not  so  ma- 
nifest, and  indeed,  if  it  were,  there  are  politicians  enough  to 
be  found,  who,  for  the  present  improvement  of  their  particular 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  13 

county,  would  not  hesitate  to  saddle  their  great-grandchildren 
with  the  expense  of  making  it.  • 

The  time  must  arrive,  as  it  did  with  the  banking  mania, 
when  the  people  will  feel  the  effects  of  an  improvident  expen- 
diture of  capital  in  roads  and  canals.  Many  of  them  have 
not  been  called  for  by  the  actual  state  of  population  and  wealth. 
Nor  can  they  ever  be  productive  to  their  proprietors,  to  an  ex- 
tent equal  to  the  interest  of  the  money  expended,  until  after  the 
lapse  of  many  years.  And  we  need  hardly  here  say,  that  an 
expenditure  of  capital  in  the  construction  of  a  road  or  canal  be- 
fore it  is  wanted,  is  just  as  injudicious  as  it  would  be  for  a 
farmer  to  appropriate  a  part  of  his  active  agricultural  capital 
to  the  construction  of  a  wagon,  many  years  before  he  would 
have  any  thing  to  transport  to  market. 

The  state  of  Pennsylvania  is  now  beginning  to  feel  the  ef- 
fects of  improvident  undertakings.  She  authorized  too  many 
improvements  at  a  time,  and,  instead  of  completing  one  ob- 
ject before  she  commenced  another,  she  involved  herself  in 
Habilities,  from  which  nothing,  we  think,  can  extricate  her  but 
a  direct  tax.* 


ESSAY     No.   IV. 

JANUARY    13,    1830. 


Ironical  petition  of  oystermen  and  others,  designed  to  shew  the 
absurdity  of  laws  restricting  industry. 

PETITION. 

To  the  Honourable  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of 
the  United  States : 

The  petition  of  the  subscribers  most  respectfully  represents, 
THAT  your  petitioners  are  inhabitants  of  the  district  of  coun- 
try which  borders  upon  the  river  Delaware,  and  have  been  long 
engaged  in  the  business  of  catching  rock-fish  and  perch,  in 
raking  oysters,  and  in  shooting  wild  ducks  for  the  Philadelphia 
market — that  in  the  pursuit  of  their  respective  occupations,  your 
petitioners  have  set  in  motion  a  great  quantity  oi  American  in- 
dustry, such  as  that  employed  in  fishing,  and  shooting,  in  boat- 
building, in  navigating,  and  in  selling  fish  and  game  in  the 
market,  and  in  transporting  oysters  in  carts  or  wheelbarrows 
to  the  numerous  oyster  cellars  of  the  city — that  your  petitioners 
are  great  admirers  of  the  "  American  System,"  inasmuch  as  it 
teaches  the  glorious  truth,  that  home  industry  ought  to  be  pro- 

*This  direct  tax  was  laid  on  the  25th  of  March,  1831. 

B 


14  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

tected  against  foreign  rivalship,  and  that  it  is  unpatriotic  for  a 
people  to  send  abroad  for  things  which  can  be  produced  by 
themselves  at  home — that,  holding  these  truths  to  be  self  evi- 
dent, your  petitioners  have  seen,  with  extreme  regret,  the  com- 
pletion of  the  Delaware  and  Chesapeake  canal,  which,  owing 
to  the  superior  abundance  of  fish,  oysters,  and  wild  ducks,  on 
the  waters  of  the  Chesapeake,  enables  the  fishermen,  the  oys- 
termen,  and  the  duck  shooters,  of  Maryland,  a  foreign  State,  to 
undersell  your  petitioners  in  the  home  market — that  this  intro- 
duction of  foreign  fish,  oysters  and  wild  ducks,  creates  an  un- 
favourable balance  of  trade  against  Philadelphia,  by  which  a 
large  amount  of  specie  will  be  drained  from  her,  which  was 
not  the  case  when  your  petitioners  had  the  command  of  the 
home  market,  for  they,  in  exchange  for  their  fish,  oysters  and 
wild  ducks,  were  in  the  habit  of  taking  dry  goods,  groceries  and 
liquors — that  the  notion  entertained  by  many  people,  that  it  is 
good  policy  to  buy  cheap  instead  of  dear,  is  one  of  the  fallacies 
of  the  Free  Trade  System,  and  is  very  clearly  so  to  your  pe- 
titioners, who  think  that  it  would  be  manifestly  for  the  benefit 
of  the  citizens  of  Philadelphia  to  buy  their  fish,  oysters  and 
wild  ducks,  at  double  price,  rather  than  encourage  the  industry 
of  foreigners,  for  it  is  humbly  conceived  that  Maryland  is  as 
much  a  foreign  state  to  Pennsylvania,  as  Great  Britain  is  to  the 
United  States — that,  in  fine,  your  petitioners  cannot  pursue  their 
several  vocations  without  some  Congressional  aid : — 

They  therefore  pray  that  your  Honourable  bodies,  by  virtue 
of  that  power  granted  by  the  Constitution,  which  authorizes 
any  and  every  act  which  may  be  calculated  to  promote  "  the 
general  welfare,"  will  impose  a  tax  upon  all  fish,  oysters  and 
wild  ducks,  wdiich  may  pass  through  the  canal  aforesaid,  or  en- 
tirely prohibit  their  importation  into  Philadelphia.  And  your 
petitioners,  for  thus  putting  money  into  their  pockets,  taken  out 
of  those  of  the  consumers,  will,  as  in  duty  bound,  ever  pray. 


ESSAY     No.  V. 


JANUARY   16,    1830. 

Incompatibility  of  the  interests  of  the  wool  growers,  with  those 
of  the  wool  manufacturers. 

IN  the  New-York  Morning  Herald  a  series  of  essays  has 
been  published,  "  On  the  policy  of  manufacturing  in  this  coun- 
try," which  have  proceeded  as  far  as  No.  11.  Those  which  we 
have  seen,  have  contended  most  strenuously  for  the  protecting 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  15 

system,  but  have  advanced  nothing  by  way  of  argument,  differ- 
ent from  the  ordinary  language  of  the  great  body  of  American 
System  w^riters.  The  author,  however,  is  evidently  a  sensible 
man,  and  practically  acquainted  with  the  details  of  manufac- 
turing, and  he  has,  in  some  of  his  essays,  stated  a  number  of 
facts  which  are  well  worth  preserving. 

In  his  eleventh  essay  he  has  pointed  out  the  absolute  incom- 
patability  of  the  .interests  of  the  wool  growers  and  tlte  wool 
manufacturers.  He  has  shewn  that,  whilst  the  interests  of  the 
farmer  are  to  be  promoted  by  the  high  price  of  wool,  the  inte- 
rests of  the  latter  require  that  the  raw  material  of  their  fabric 
should  be  at  a  low  price ;  and  he  has  ascribed  the  great  imper- 
fection of  the  present  tariff  law  and  its  oppressive  influence  up- 
on the  manufacturers,  to  the  erroneous  information  given  by 
themselves  to  the  committee  of  Congress,  prior  to  its  passage. 
We  have  copied  in  our  paper  of  to-day  this  whole  essay.  It 
may  be  regarded  as  testimony  of  an  important  nature,  coming 
from  a  party  which  can  have  no  interest  in  making  such  an 
admission.  The  real  fact  is,  that,  not  only  in  relation  to  the 
woollens,  but  also  to  the  iron  manufacture,  an  attempt  has 
been  made  to  reconcile  discordant  interests.  If  high  duties  are 
imposed  upon  raw  materials  to  encourage  the  domestic  pro- 
duction, just  in  proportion  to  those  duties  must  be  the  discou- 
ragement of  the  manufacturers,  and  these  duties  may  even  be 
so  high,  that  the  foreign  fabric  can  be  imported,  ready  made, 
cheaper  than  the  raw  material.  This  we  know  to  be  the  case 
in  regard  to  some  manufactures  of  iron.  But  why  did  the 
woollen  manufacturers  consent  to  the  high  duties  on  wool? 
Simply  because  they  could  in  no  other  way  secure  a  majority 
in  Congress  in  favour  of  their  protection.  The  farmers  of  the 
middle  and  Western  states  knew  too  well  that  high  duties 
upon  manufactures  were  a  tax  upon  consumers,  and  they 
would  not  therefore  willingly  consent  to  this  tax,  unless  a  com- 
promise could  be  effected,  by  which  they  should  receive  a  part 
or  the  whole  of  it  back  again,  in  the  form  of  a  high  price  for 
wool.  The  compromise,  however,  failed  of  its  object.  To  in- 
sure a  monopoly,  it  is  essential  that  a  limited  quantity  only,  of 
the  commodity  protected,  can  be  produced.  The  gold  diggers  of 
North  Carolina  might  enjoy  the  benefit  of  a  monopoly,  if  Con- 
gress could  impose  a  prohibitory  duty  upon  gold,  because  that 
metal  is  only  to  be  found  in  small  quantities.  But  to  attempt 
to  create  a  monopoly  for  the  growing  of  wool,  when  every 
man  in  the  land  can  keep  sheep,  would  not  be  less  absurd,  than 
an  attempt  to  create  a  monopoly  for  the  raising  of  wheat. 
This  important  truth  appears  to  have  been  lost  sight  of  by  our 
legislature,  as  well  as  by  our  farmers,  and  the  effects  of  their 
impolicy  have  been  felt  far  and  wide.  Of  all  the  capitals 
which  are  employed  in  production,  a  capital  invested  in  living 


16  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

animals  is  the  most  likely  to  bring  ruin  on  its  proprietor,  when 
the  business  is  overdone.  Steam  engines  may  be  stopped — 
machinery  may  be  suspended,  and  factories  may  be  closed 
when  there  is  no  demand  for  cloth — and  all  that  the  proprietor 
loses,  is  the  rent  of  his  l)uildings,  and  his  water  power,  the  inte- 
rest on  his  capital,  and  the  deterioration  of  his  machinery,  from 
its  standing  idle.  In  the  case  of  sheep,  the  matter  is  difierent. 
They  must  be  fed,  or  killed  ofl!  In  either  case,  they  may  oc- 
casion a  total  loss ;  and  as  in  the  case  of  their  being  slaughtered, 
they  will  sell  for  no  more  than  the  price  of  the  cheapest  meat, 
which,  including  skin,  fleece  and  all,  in  many  places,  does  not 
exceed  one  dollar  a  head,  all  the  surplus  paid  for  a  flock,  is  a 
capital  annihilated  for  the  owner.  A  vast  extent  of  losses  of 
this  kind  has  already  been  experienced  in  New-England  and 
elsewhere,  and  the  probability  is,  that,  before  the  business  is 
over,  some  millions  of  dollars  will  have  been  lost  to  the  farmers 
by  this  process. 

But  the  question  is,  will  the  farmers  consent  to  forego  all  the 
benefits  of  the  American  System,  in  favour  of  the  manufactur- 
ers ?  Will  they  agree  to  pay  the  whole  tax  of  supporting,  not 
merely  the  wool  manufacturers,  but  those  of  cotton  and  iron 
and  glass,  and  all  the  rest  who  are  favoured  by  the  protecting 
laws,  if  they  are  to  see  no  way  by  which  they  are  to  be  remu- 
nerated in  part,  for  such  an  enormous  burthen  ?  We  think  not, 
and  we  therefore  consider  it  likely  that  the  wool  manufacturers 
will  be  held  to  the  terms  of  the  original  compact.  Finding 
then  that  no  remedy  is  presented  in  this  quarter,  they  may  ap- 
peal for  a  total  prohibition,  which  would  be  accomplished  by 
striking  out  the  one  dollar  minimum  from  the  existing  law. 
Such  a  measure  would  seal  their  doom.  Smuggling  would 
then  take  the  entire  place  of  lawful  importations,  and  the  mar- 
ket price  of  woollen  fabrics,  instead  of  being  controlled,  as  it  now 
is,  by  the  rate  of  lawful  importations,  would  settle  down  to  the 
rates  of  smuggling. 


ESSAY    No.   VI. 


JANUARY  20,   1830. 

Progress  of  Free  Trade  •principles  in  the  United  States.  JVorth 
American  Review.  Boston  Report.  Southern  Revieiv.  South 
Carolina  Exposition.  Dei/fs  Lectrires  on  the  Restrictive 
System.     Doctor  Cooper.     Professor  Mc  Vickar. 

IT  is  a  source  of  great  satisfaction  to  the  advocates  of  a  li- 
beral intercourse  with  foreign  nations,  to  observe  the  progress 
which  the  science  of  political  economy  is  making  in  this  country. 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  17 

Within  the  last  two  years  the  restrictive  system  has  been  more 
closely  examined,  as  to  its  essential  character,  than  at  any  for- 
mer period,  and  materials  have  been  collected,  which  are  now 
at  the  service  of  any  one  who  is  disposed  to  understand  the 
subject  to  the  bottom,  that  will  render  hereafter  the  investiga- 
tion of  its  doctrines  comparatively  easy.  The  old  mercantile 
theory  of  Great  Britain,  brought  over  to  tlie  United  States,  and 
palmed  upon  the  American  people  as  a  new  discovery,  had 
made  great  strides  towards  a  general  reception  in  the  Northern 
and  middle  states.  The  immediate,  direct  and  positive  interest 
which  those  embarked  in  the  cotton  and  woollen  manufacture 
possessed  in  the  estabhshment  of  a  policy  which  should  exclude 
foreign  competition,  had  a  most  powerful  operation.  Writers 
and  editors  were  also  found,  who,  having  no  capacity  to  think  up- 
on abstract  subjects,  were  easily  induced  to  lend  their  aid  in  the 
dissemination  of  principles  which  were  as  adverse  to  the  true 
interests  of  the  community,  as  they  were  to  the  dictates  of  com- 
mon sense ;  and,  for  a  series  of  years  preceding  the  passage  of 
the  last  tariff  law,  the  press  overflowed  with  productions  in 
praise  of  the  American  System,  of  which  the  inevitable  tendency 
is,  to  depress  agriculture  and  commerce,  and  promote  the  in- 
terests of  comparatively  few  individuals.  In  vain  was  the  voice 
of  wisdom  and  warning  resounded  through  the  halls  of  Con- 
gress, by  the  numerous  statesmen  who  have  borne  public  testi- 
mony against  the  restrictive  policy.  In  vain  was  the  language 
of  cogent  and  irrefutable  reasoning  poured  out  through  the  co- 
lumns of  the  North  American  Review,  presenting  the  subject  in 
such  various  and  intelligible  aspects,  that  none  could  doubt  who 
"would  read.*  All,  all  was  in  vain.  A  delusion  seized  upon  the 
public  mind,  and,  like  an  epidemic  disease,  spread  such  havoc 
throughout  the  community,  that  the  few  who  remained  uncon- 
taminated,  were  silenced  by  superiority  of  numbers,  or  thought 
it  useless  to  attempt  to  oppose  the  torrent. 

To  the  author  of  the  "  Boston  Report"  belongs  the  distinction 
of  having  first  laid  before  the  public,  in  the  form  of  a  volume, 
ample  materials  for  arresting  tlie  progress  of  the  delusion.  In  No- 
vember 1827,  a  document,  comprising  near  two  hundred  pages  of 
the  soundest  reasoning,  supported  by  the  most  satisfactory  proofs, 
made  its  appearance  as  a  "  Report  of  a  Committee  of  tlie  citizens 
of  Boston  and  vicinity,  opposed  to  a  further  increase  of  duties  j 
on  importations."t  To  this  work  succeeded  an  able  article  on 
the  tariff,  in  the  Southern  Review,  and  tlie  "  Exposition  of 
South  Carolina,"  against  the  injustice  and  impolicy  of  the  pro- 
tective system,  than  which  a  more  powerful  appeal  to  the  pa- 

*The  North  American  Review  took  the  restrictive  side  of  the  question  in  January, 
1830.  the  month  in  which  this  article  was  written. 

tThe  author  of  this  Report  was  Henry  Lee,  Esq.,  the  gentleman  who  received  the 
vote  of  South  Carolina,  for  the  Vice  Presidency  of  the  United  States,  in  1832. 

B* 


18  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

triotism  and  common  sense  of  the  public  has  not  often  been 
seen.*  That  these  works  effected  the  commencement  of  a 
counter  current  in  the  pubUc  mind,  is  manifest  to  all  who  have 
felt  interest  enoui^h  in  tiic  question  to  watch  its  progress.  We 
pronounce  it,  and  we  do  so  upon  the  evidence  both  of  foes  and 
friends,  that  the  public  faith  in  the  American  System  has  been  - 
shaken  by  the  eflbrts  of  the  last  two  years  to  enlighten  the  pub- 
lic mind,  and  we  predict  that  the  time  is  not  very  distant,  when 
thousands,  who  have  now  scales  on  their  eyes,  will  look  back 
with  amazement  at  the  fallacies  and  delusion  of  which  they  have 
suffered  themselves  to  be  the  dupes. 

But  the  publications  above  referred  to  are  not  the  sole  evi- 
dence of  the  advance  of  tiie  important  truths  to  which  they  re- 
late. The  college  of  William  and  Mary,  in  Virginia,  has 
lately,  through  one  of  her  professors,  Thomas  R.  Dew,  Esq., 
as  we  have  already  mentioned,  put  forth  a  volume  which 
;,  does  great  credit  to  that  institution,  as  well  as  to  the  gentle- 
l  man  named.  His  course  of  "  Lectures  on  the  Restrictive  Sys- 
|tem,  delivered  to  the  senior  political  class"  of  that  college, 
and  pubhshed  at  Richmond  in  October  last,  may  be  regarded 
as  a  work  of  the  highest  merit.  It  comprises  ten  lectures, 
occupying  near  two  hundred  pages  octavo,  and  enters  so  mi- 
nutely and  so  intelligibly  into  an  examination  of  the  several  fal- 
lacies of  the  restrictive  system,  that  the  writer  has  not  left  a 
single  point  untouched,  and,  as  far  as  our  humble  judgment  ex- 
tends, we  think  he  has  not  left  a  single  point  which  has  not  been 
entirely  refuted.  As  far  as  our  recollection  serves,  we  believe 
that  this  is  the  first  course  of  lectures  against  the  restrictive 
I  system  pronounced  in  a  seminary  of  learning  in  the  United 
/  States,  which  has  been  published ;  although  we  are  not  ignorant 
of  the  fact,  that  Dr.  Cooper,  President  of  the  South  Carolina 
College,  and  professor  Mc Vicar,  of  Columbia  College,  New 
York,  have  both  enriched  the  science  of  pohtical  economy  by 
sound  and  erudite  publications.  Professor  Dew's  lectures  we 
warmly  recommend  to  our  readers,  and  if  the  trustees  of  our 
universities  and  colleges  were  generally  to  adopt  a  course  of 
lectures  upon  political  philosophy,  as  a  branch  of  liberal  educa- 
tion, the  youth  who  are  now  at  school,  but  who  are  hereafter 
to  make  laws  for  the  country,  would  enter  the  public  service 
with  the  acquirements  requisite  for  statesmen,  and  not  with  the 
smattering  of  knowledge  in  politics  that  qualifies  them  solely 
for  the  functions  of  statistical  collectors. 

*  The  author  of  this  Exposition  was  Mr.  Calhoun,  late  Vice  President  of  the  United 
States. 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  19 

ESSAY    No.   VII. 

JANUARY   23,   1830. 

To  benefit  manufacturers,  raio  materials  should  he  admitted  free, 
or,  at  low  duties.  Incompatibility  of  the  interests  of  the  own- 
ers of  iron  mines,  with  those  of  blacksmiths,  and  other  artifi- 
cers in  iron. 

IN  ord^r  to  understand  the  true  operation  of  the  "  American 
System"  upon  the  different  branches  of  industry,  it  is  necessary 
to  examine  each  by  itself.  The  cunning  and  artifice  by  which 
the  manufacturers,  who  are  protected  by  enormous  duties,  have 
managed  to  impress  the  pubUc  with  the  idea  that  their  cause 
is  the  common  cause  of  all  the  manufacturers  in  the  country, 
have  been  too  successful,  and  the  consequence  has  been,  that 
many  of  those  whose  industry  has  always  prospered  under  the 
most  moderate  rates  of  duty,  have  been  persuaded  that  their 
interests  would  be  promoted  by  granting  to  others  a  greater 
extent  of  protection  than  they  themselves  enjoyed.  But  this 
is  not  all :  In  some  instances  the  boasted  protection  to  the  ope- 
rative manufacturer,  which  has  invested  this  "  American  Sys- 
tem" with  a  great  share  of  its  popularity,  has  proved  to  be  a 
sheer  fraud.  This  has  been  especially  the  case  with  the  ma- 
nufacturers of  iron,  as  has  been  most  ably  and  most  conclu- 
sively shewn  by  the  blacksmith,  whose  communication  was  pub- 
lished in  this  paper  on  the  9th  and  13th  inst.,  and  which  would 
have  done  credit  to  any  statesman  in  our  legislative  councils.* 

To  promote  the  interests  of  manufacturers,  the  raw  material 
upon  which  they  employ  their  labour  should  be  always  fur- 
nished at  the  lowest  possible  rate.  This  matter  is  so  well  un- 
derstood in  Great  Britain,  that  wool  is  there  admitted  at  one 
half  penny  per  pound,  if  it  cost  less  than  one  shilling,  and  one 
penny  per  pound  if  it  cost  above ;  cotton  at  a  duty  of  six  per 
cent.,  raw  silk  at  one  penny  per  pound,  bar  iron  at  six  dollars 
sixty-seven  cents  per  ton,  pig  iron  at  t\To  dollars  twenty-two 
cents  per  ton,  hemp  at  twenty  dollars  seventy-five  cents  per 
ton,  and  flax  at  one  penny  per  hundred  weight.  The  British 
government  understands  too  well  the  incompatibility  which  ex- 
ists between  the  high  prices  of  raw  materials  and  the  low  prices 
of  manufactured  goods,  to  listen  to  the  petition  of  the  wool 
growers  in  favour  of  high  duties  on  wool,  and  it  knows  that 
any  attempts  to  enable  the  wool  growing  and  the  wool  manu- 
facturing interests  to  combine,  would  be  fatal  to  both.  The 
consequence  therefore  of  their  policy  is,  that  raw  materials  can 
be  purchased  by  the  manufacturers  of  England,  at  a  price  so 
little  above  the  prices  which  they  bear  at  the  places  of  their 

*  John  Sarchett,  of  Philadelphia,  is  the  individual  here  alluded  to< 


20  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

growth,  that  the  fact  in  regard  to  many  articles,  of  growing 
the  raw  material,  has  ceased  to  be  an  advantage  worth  speak- 
ing of.*  The  result  therefore  is,  that  Great  Britain  can  manu- 
facture cheaper  than  those  countries  which  tax  the  raw  mate- 
rials, independent  of  the  advantages  she  enjoys  from  abundance 
of  capital  and  cheapness  of  labour. 

Now  what  are  the  facts  in  reference  to  the  United  States  ? 
Why,  for  the  sake  of  benefiting  the  producers  of  the  raw  ma- 
terials, we  have  imposed  so  heavy  a  duty  upon  their  importa- 
tion, that  the  manufacturers  have,  in  some  cases,  found  that  it 
more  than  counterbalances  all  the  advantages  they  enjoy 
from  the  high  duties  imposed  upon  the  manufactured  articles. 
This  is  especially  the  case  in  the  manufacture  of  iron.  The 
duty  upon  bar  iron  is  thirty-seven  dollars  per  ton,  which  is  less 
than  the  price  that  the  English  manufacturer  has  to  pay  for  it, 
and  as  the  duty  upon  many  iron  manufactures  is  but  twenty- 
five  per  cent.,  the  consequence  is,  that  they  can  be  imported  and 
sold  in  the  market  at  a  less  price  per  ton  than  the  raw  material 
can  be  imported  for.  This  absurd  result  was  very  minutely  and 
perspicuously  explained  in  a  petition  from  the  iron  manufactur- 
ers of  Philadelphia,  presented  to  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  prior  to  the  passage  of  the  last  tariff  law,  and  which  was 
published  at  page  325  of  the  first  volume  of  the  Free  Trade  Ad- 
vocate. Let  such  a  duty  therefore  cease  to  be  called  a  duty 
for  the  protection  of  the  manufacturers  of  iron ;  it  is  a  duty  for 
their  destruction ;  and  can  possibly  benefit  nobody  but  the  owners 
of  the  land  upon  which  the  iron  mines  are  located,  who,  by  be- 
ing authorized  to  levy  a  tax  upon  the  consumers  of  bar  iron,  are 
enabled  to  pocket  the  amount,  which  would  otherwise  have  gone 
into  the  pockets  of  the  w  orkmen,  who  have  been  deprived  of  the 
power  of  employing  their  industry  in  the  fabrication  of  the  raw 
material.  That  this  is  so,  we  refer  to  the  petition  above  men- 
tioned. It  says :  "  We  are  completely  shut  out  of  our  own 
market,  by  laws,  we  are  told,  that  were  made  for  our  protection. 
Such  articles  as  cost  one  penny  and  one  penny  and  a  half  per 
pound  to  manufacture,  which  include  all  those  articles  which 
could  he  manufactured  here  to  the  best  advantage,  are  now  im- 
ported, and  can  be  sold  profitably  at  one  hundred  and  seven  dol- 
lars and  twenty  cents  per  ton,  or  two  dollars  and  eighty  cents  less 
than  the  cost  of  the  same  quality  of  iron  in  most  of  our  seaports." 
A  very  important  item,  perhaps  not  thought  of  at  the  time  by  the 
petitioners,  is  the  iron  for  rail  roads,  which,  although  in  bars,  is 
admitted  under  the  denomination  of  manufactured  iron,  and  is 
charged  with  but  twenty-five  per  cent.  This  article  can  be  im- 
ported at  sixty  dollars  per  ton,  whilst  the  raw  material  of  which 
it  is  made  cannot  be  imported  for  less  than  eighty  dollars. 

*  This  is  a  truth  well  known  in  reference  to  cotton.  The  English  manufacturer  is 
seWoin  obliged  to  pay  more  for  it,  than  the  American  manufacturer  of  the  Northern 
states,  and  what  little  difference  does  at  times  exist,  is  of  trifling  account. 


OF  FREE  TRADE.  21 

What  has  taken  place  in  regard  to  iron,  has  also  taken  place 
in  reference  to  wool.  The  duty  on  that  quality  which  cannot 
be  raised  in  this  country  to  advantage,  is  so  high  that  the  ma- 
nufacturers say,  that  the  duties  on  woollen  fabrics,  although 
ranging  from  forty-five  to  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  per 
cent.,  are  not  sufficient  to  protect  them,  and  they  consequently 
call  out  for  more  of  the  "  American  System."  Indeed,  some 
of  them  say,  that  nothing  short  of  prohibition  will  save  them 
from  ruin.  We  cannot  however  sympathise  with  this  class  of 
manufacturers,  as  we  do  with  the  manufacturers  of  iron.  The 
"  American  System"  was  of  their  own  seeking,  whilst  it  was 
opposed  by  the  others,  as  will  appear  from  a  reference  to  the 
cited  petition,  wherein  it  was  expressly  declared,  that  the  pe- 
titioners were  satisfied  with  the  existing  duties  on  manufactures 
of  iron. 

That  the  force  of  our  remarks  may  be  more  apparent,  we 
will  quote  the  duties  now  payable  in  the  United  States  upon  the 
raw  materials  referred  to.     They  are  as  follows : — 

Wool,  four  cents  per  pound,  and  forty-five  per  cent,  ad  va- 
lorem besides. 

Bar  iron,  thirty-seven  dollars  per  ton. 

Pig  iron,  twelve  dollars  and  fifty  cents  per  ton. 

Hemp,  fifty  dollars  per  ton. 

Flax,  forty  dollars  per  ton. 

Upon  cotton,  the  duty  is  tliree  cents  per  pound,  which,  if  any 
were  imported,  would  be  about  thirty  per  cent.,  but  this  not  be- 
ing the  case,  it  is  a  mere  nominal  duty. 


ESSAY   No.   VIII. 

JANUARY   30,    1830. 

Ironical  petition  of  the  owners  of  gold  mines  for  protection. 

PETITION. 

To  the  Honourable  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives. 

THE  petition  of  the  subscribers  respectfully  represents :  That 
your  petitioners  are  of  that  class  of  political  economists  who  be- 
lieve that  the  weahh  of  a  country  consists  in  gold  and  silver, 
and  having  heard  that  gold  mines  had  been  recently  discover- 
ed in  the  states  of  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina, 
and  Georgia,  they  had  been  induced  to  abandon  their  agricul- 
tural, commercial  and  manufacturing  pursuits,  with  the  patrio- 
tic design  of  enriching  the  nation,  by  adding  to  the  moss  of  the 


22  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

precious  metals ;  which,  unfortunately,  owing  to  the  balance  of 
trade  being  against  the  country,  are  constantly  exported.  That 
your  petitioners  had  not  been  long  engaged  in  their  new  occu- 
pation, before  they  discovered  that  "  all  is  not  gold  that  glis- 
tens;"  for,  although  a  few  individuals,  who  had  the  good  for- 
tune to  strike  upon  fertile  spots,  have  been  successful  in  their 
enterprises,  yet  by  far  the  greatest  portion  of  those  who  were 
tempted  to  embark  their  capitals  and  industry  in  the  mining 
business,  have  found,  to  their  cost,  that  hunting  for  gold  is  not 
a  more  profitable  business  than  ploughing  for  corn :  Indeed  it 
is  thought  by  some,  that,  taking  into  consideration  the  loss  of 
labour  in  unfruitful  attempts  to  find  the  precious  article,  the  dis- 
covery of  these  mines  has  thus  far  been  rather  a  disadvantage 
than  a  benefit  to  the  public. 

It  is  easy,  however,  to  account  for  the  failure  of  these  lauda- 
ble experiments.  Gold  and  silver  are,  as  is  well  known  to  your 
honourable  bodies,  commodities  produced  by  human  labour,  and 
it  is  wholly  owing  to  the  importation,  free  of  duty,  of  foreign 
gold,  which  can  be  produced  cheaper  in  Spanish  and  Portu- 
guese America  than  in  this  country,  that  the  home  producers 
find  their  business  unprofitable.  Believing,  as  we  do,  that  the 
American  Sj^stem  is  a  grand  panacea,  in  comparison  with  which 
Mr.  Swaim's  is  mere  quackery,  and  that  its  application  to  the 
protection  of  gold-finders  is  as  appropriate  as  to  the  manufac- 
turers of  cotton,  wool,  and  iron,  and  especially  of  the  last  named, 
which  is  a  kindred  commodity,  your  petitioners  respectfully  so- 
licit the  attention  of  Congress  to  the  reasoning  which  they  use 
in  favour  of  their  claims. 

One  of  the  great  objects  of  all  governments  is,  to  afford  em- 
ployment to  the  labouring  classes,  for  labour  being  the  only 
source  of  wealth,  it  follows  that  the  more  there  is  of  it  employed, 
the  greater  will  be  the  mass  of  wealth  created.  Who  cannot 
see,  even  if  the  great  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  canal  should  never 
be  finished,  that  it  will  have  been  of  incalculable  benefit  to  the 
community,  by  giving  employment  to  so  many  thousand  labour- 
ers? Just  so  would  it  be  with  the  gold  mines  of  the  Southern 
states.  If  properly  protected  by  law,  by  the  imposition  of  a  duty 
of  from  forty-five  to  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  per  cent,  ad 
valorem  upon  foreign  gold,  they  would  set  in  motion  an  infinite 
quantity  of  American  Industry,  and  would  place  the  nation  in 
the  desirable  situation  of  not  being  dependent  upon  foreign  na- 
tions for  gold. 

The  argument,  it  appears  to  your  petitioners,  is  equally 
strong  in  their  favour,  as  it  was  when  urged  in  favour  of  the 
iron  masters,  and  we  can  see  no  reason  why  a  protection  grant- 
ed to  them,  should  be  withheld  from  us. 

Your  ]:)ctitioners,  therefore,  relying  upon  the  wisdom  and 
justice  of  your  honourable  bodies,  and  believing  that  you  pos- 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  23 

sess  the  power  by  the  constitution,  to  do  any  thing  which  is  cal- 
culated to  promote  "  the  general  welfare,"  they  earnestly  beg 
that  their  petition  may  be  granted.  And,  as  in  duty  bound, 
they  will  ever  pray.* 


ESSAY    No.    I X. 


JANUARV    30,    1830. 


Comments  on  the  bill  reported  on  the  21th  of  January,  to  the 
House  of  Representatives,  hy  the  Committee  of  Mamifactures. 
Impracticability  of  a  just  appraisement  of  manufactured 
goods  by  the  officers  of  the  customs. 

THE  bill  reported  by  the  Committee  of  Manufactures  on  the 
27th  instant  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  which  will 
be  found  at  full  length  in  our  paper  of  this  day,  under  its  appro- 
priate title,  may  be  looked  upon  as  the  last  struggle  of  the  Ame- 
rican System  for  a  sickly  existence.  The  manufacturers  of 
wool,  after  having  by  the  instrumentality  of  minimums  and  pro- 
msos,  secured  a  protection  of  from  fifty  to  two  hundred  and 
twenty-five  per  cent,  upon  their  fabrics,  under  the  modest  nominal 
duty  of  forty-five  per  cent.,  and  having  found  that  this  enormous 
tax  upon  the  people  was  not  enough  to  replace  the  losses  inci- 
dent to  their  trade,  and  that  no  chance  existed  for  the  enforce- 
ment of  a  new  levy,  have  now  resorted  to  a  scheme,  of  which 
the  tendency  is  to  throw  such  difficulties  in  the  way  of  impor- 
tations, as  v^^ill  most  materially  diminish  them,  if  not  entirely 
destroy  them.  This  scheme  is  in  itself  so  novel  in  our  country, 
and  so  fraught  with  mischief  and  injustice,  that  a  brief  analysis 
of  its  features  will,  we  trust,  be  acceptable  to  those  who  are  not 
conversant  with  commercial  details. 

By  this  bill  it  is  required,  that  all  woollen  goods  imported, 
shall  be  taken  to  the  custom-house,  and  be  there  examined  by 
appraisers,  who  shall  inspect  each  piece  and  determine,  without 
the  aid  of  invoices  or  of  oral  evidence,  "  according  to  the  best  of 
their  knowledge  and  belief,  the  actual  value  of  each  square  yard 
of  the  same,  at  the  place  whence  imported."  Now  we  do  pro- 
nounce it  to  be  wholly  impossible  for  any  man  or  set  of  men,  to 
possess  such  a  knowledge  of  the  quality  and  prices  of  foreign 
woollen  manufactures,  particularily  at  a  time  of  great  fluctua- 
tions in  the  foreign  markets,  as  would  enable  them  to  decide  upon 
the  cost  with  that  certainty  which  should  exist,  when  penalties 

*  In  June.  1834,  Congress  reduced  the  weight  of  pure  gold  contained  in  an  eagle, 
from  247  1-2  to  232  grains,  retaining  its  oquivalency  to  ten  silver  dollars. 


24  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

of  SO  exorbitant  and  tyrannical  and  unjast  a  character  are  pro- 
posed to  be  inflicted.  Can  it  be  believed,  that  a  committee  of 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States  should  seriously  propose  to 
set  up  the  judgment  of  any  two  or  three  individuals,  in  matters 
of  a  nature  not  susceptible  of  positive  exactness,  against  the 
solemn  oaths  of  the  most  respectable  merchants  of  the  country, 
upon  whose  integrity  the  nation  has  thus  far  relied  for  the  means 
of  supporting  the  government  and  of  paying  off"  its  debts  1  Can 
it  be  believed,  that  such  a  committee  would  propose  to  iuA^est 
such  a  tribunal,  denied  the  use  of  the  only  evidence  that  could 
render  their  judgments  worth  respecting,  with  the  power  of 
doubling  the  duties  upon  whole  invoices  of  merchandise,  of  con- 
fiscating entire  packages,  and  of  sentencing  the  unhappy  vic- 
tims of  such  cruel  and  arbitrary  decrees  to  a  forfeiture  besides 
of  double  the  amount  ?  And  yet  this  is  the  substance  of  the  bill 
By  the  third  section  it  is  enacted,  that  the  appraisers  shall  de- 
termine the  minimum  valuation  or  class  to  which  the  goods 
belong,  and  consequently,  they  may  decide  that  a  piece  of  cloth, 
invoiced  at  forty-nine  cents  per  square  yard,  cost  fifty-one  cents, 
or  that  one  invoiced  at  ninety-nine  cents,  cost  one  hundred  and 
one  cents ;  the  effect  of  which  would  be  to  throw  them  into  a 
higher  class,  and  thus  subject  them  to  twice  the  duty  which  they 
ought  to  pay.  Such  sporting  with  the  property  of  a  community 
might  be  suitable  for  countries  where  commercial  honesty  and 
oaths  are  held  in  no  esteem,  but  for  a  land,  distinguished  above 
all  others  for  its  mercantile  integrity  and  honour,  it  is  as  ill-judg- 
ed and  revolting  a  proposition  as  was  ever  before  suggested. 

Again,  if  these  appraisers,  upon  the  strength  of  their  own 
judgment,  should  decide  that  tbe  value  of  the  goods  at  the 
place  where  they  were  purchased,  is  twenty  per  cent,  more 
than  the  price  at  which  they  are  invoiced,  absolute  forfeiture 
of  the  goods  shall  take  place,  and  beside  this,  "  all  legal  duties 
shall  be  paid,  the  same  as  if  no  forfeiture  had  taken  place." 
Now  we  candidly  put  the  question  to  any  reasonable  man :  Is 
it  possible  for  any  persons,  however  skillful  in  the  value  of  wool- 
len cloths,  to  decide  with  the  precision  which  ought  to  exist 
where  the  property  of  a  citizen  is  at  stake,  whether  an  article 
manufactured  in  Great  Britain,  France,  or  Germany,  did  in 
reality  cost  forty-nine  or  fifty-one  cents,  ninty-nine  or  one  hun- 
dred and  one  cents  1  How  could  they  decide  with  such  uner- 
ring precision,  whether  an  article  in  those  countries  where  sales 
of  bankrupts'  estates  upon  fluctuating  markets  are  of  constant 
occurrence,  cost  forty-five  or  fifty-five  cents,  ninety  or  one  hun- 
dred and  ten  cents  1  And  yet  upon  such  fallibility  of  judgment 
does  this  bill  stake  the  whole  capital  of  our  importers  of  wool- 
len cloths.  The  measure  is  monstrous.  It  is  calculated  to  de- 
ter our  citizens  from  promoting  the  interests  of  the  country  by 
purchasing  their  foreign  supplies  cheap,  through  fear  that  by 


OF    FREE     TRADE.      -  25 

being  successful  in  their  speculations,  they  may  be  ruined, 
iiook  at  the  case  of  fluctuations  in  price  at  home :  The  very 
ground  upon  which  the  manufacturers  rest  their  pretensions  for 
this  arbitrary  measure,  is  conclusive  as  to  the  veiy  fluctuation 
in  prices  which  is  denied  to  exist  by  this  bill.  It  is  because 
woollen  goods  have  fallen,  that  the  manufacturers  require  fur- 
ther restrictions  upon  importations  ;  and  yet  upon  a  falling  mar- 
ket abroad,  they  desire  to  urge  the  judgment  of  appraisers  as 
better  evidence  of  the  actual  cost  of  a  commodity,  than  the  in- 
voice, supported  by  the  oath  of  the  very  man  who  made  the 
purchase.  The  whole  tenor  of  this  bill  is  proof  of  the  despe- 
rate measures  which  the  manufacturers  would  gladly  resort  to, 
to  preserve  their  monopoly  of  the  home  market,  and  that  to  ac- 
complish that,  neither  justice  nor  respect  to  private  property 
would  be  regarded. 

But  this  is  not  all :  The  collector  of  the  port,  if  he  suspects 
fraud,  may  direct  every  piece  of  cloth  in  an  entire  cargo  to  be 
measured,  or,  in  other  words,  to  be  disfigured  by  the  pulling  and 
stretching  and  unfolding,  which  would  be  required  for  its  mea- 
surement. This  act  alone,  simple  as  it  is,  would  occasion  a  re- 
duction in  the  value  of  the  cloth  of  no  trifling  amount,  and  be- 
side this  would  stamp  the  owner  with  an  infamy  which  might 
ruin,  most  unjustly,  his  reputation  as  a  fair  trader.  Let  us  sup- 
pose a  case:  An  American  merchant,  through  his  agent  or 
partner  abroad,  by  means  of  ready  money,  and  a  close  watch 
upon  the  market,  happens  to  purchase  an  invoice  of  cloths  of 
the  same  quality  as  one  for  which  his  neighbour,  who  imports 
usually  upon  credit,  is  charged  by  the  manufacturers,  ten,  flfteen 
or  twenty  per  cent.  more.  The  appraisers  decide  that  the  lat- 
ter price  is  the  true  value.  Fraud  is  suspected.  Upon  measur- 
ing one  piece  it  is  found  to  overrun  a  yard.  The  suspicion  is 
strengthened,  and  the  measurement  of  the  whole  invoice  is  or- 
dered. An  appeal  is  made  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
who  must  naturally  rely  in  a  great  degree  for  his  own  judg- 
ment, as  to  the  character  of  men,  upon  the  officers  of  govern- 
ment. He  confirms  the  decision,  by  which  the  importer,  mere- 
ly because  he  has  had  the  good  fortune  to  purchase  his  goods 
cheap,  and  to  obtain  good  measure,  is  punished  by  the  forfeit- 
ure of  the  whole  or  one  half  or  one  fourth  of  his  invoice,  upon 
which  he  must  nevertheless  pay  duty,  and  by  the  disfiguring 
of  his  goods ;  and  in  addition  to  this,  is  branded  in  his  fore- 
head as  a  smuggler.  If  it  requires  a  jury  of  twelve  men,  in 
cases  not  connected  with  the  revenue,  to  deprive  a  citizen  of 
his  property  or  reputation,  or  to  decide  upon  valuations,  where 
property  is  at  stake  upon  the  issue,  how  unjust  is  it,  that  such 
unlimited  power  over  both,  should  be  given  to  so  irregular  a 
tribunal 

We  have  not  room  further  to  extend  our  remarks.  The  bill 
C 


26  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

speaks  for  itself,  and  wherever  it  is  read,  it  will  be  pronounced, 
we  think,  to  be  one  of  the  most  pernicious  schemes,  as  to  prin- 
ciple and  detail,  that  was  ever  devised  as  an  auxiliary  to  a  sys- 
tem of  taxing  one  portion  of  the  people  for  the  benefit  of  ano- 
ther. 


ESSAY     No.  X. 


FEHRUARV    3,  1830. 


Same  subject  continued.  Impracticability  of  preventing  smug' 
gling  by  affixing  marks  on  imported  woollen  manufactures. 
Smuggling  into  the  United  States  through  Canada. 

IN  our  last  paper  we  made  some  observations  upon  the  bill 
lately  introduced  into  the  House  of  Representatives  by  the 
Committee  on  Manufactures,  relative  to  the  measurement  of 
woollen  goods  by  the  officers  of  the  customs,  and  the  despo- 
tic power  intended  to  be  conferred  on  a  few  individuals,  of  con- 
fiscating the  property  of  the  most  respectable  citizens,  upon 
opinions  formed,  not  upon  evidence,  but  upon  a  supposed  fa- 
culty of  determining  the  value  in  foreign  countries,  of  commo- 
dities liable  to  fluctuations  and  changes  of  price.  We  shall 
now  proceed  to  examine  some  other  features  of  this  bill,  which, 
if  carried  into  efl'ect,  would  estabUsh  the  Inquisition  in  the  Unit- 
ed States  as  effectually  as  it  was  ever  established  in  Portugal 
or  Spain. 

Before  this  bill  was  reported  to  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, we  had  understood,  that  the  committee  had  before  it  a 
good  deal  of  evidence  calculated  to  shew,  that  smuggling  had 
been  practised  to  a  very  considerable  extent.  One  of  the  de- 
signs, therefore,  of  the  bill,  was  to  prevent  smuggling,  and,  in 
order  to  accomplish  this,  provisions  are  introduced  into  it,  in  the 
following  words : 

"  And  the  said  appraisers  shall  mark,  or  cause  to  be  marked, 
each  piece  of  such  goods,  or,  affix  some  mark  thereto,  in  such 
manner  as  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  may  direct,  by  which 
shall  appear  the  minimum  valuation  or  class  to  which  it  may 
belong,  also  the  port  or  place  into  which  the  same  was  import- 
ed, and  the  time  of  importation." 

"  That  if  any  person  shall  make  on,  or  affix  to,  any  piece  of 
goods  mentioned  in  this  act,  any  false,  altered,  or  counterfeited 
mark,  purporting  to  have  been  made  by  the  appraisers  as  afore- 
said ;  or  if  any  person  shall  deface  any  mark  placed  on  said 
goods,  or  affixed  thereto  by  the  said  appraisers,  such  persop, 
and  every  person,  aiding  and  assisting  them,  shall  forfeit  and 


OF  FREE  TRADE.  27 

pay  double  the  value  of  the  goods  on  which  is  found  any  such 
false,  altered  and  counterfeited,  or  defaced  mark  as  aforesaid ; 
and  such  goods  on  which  shall  be  found  any  false,  altered, 
counterfeited,  or  defaced  mark,  shall  be  forfeited ;  and  if  any 
person  shall  place  on,  or  affix  to,  any  piece  of  goods,  any  mark 
which  said  appraisers  had  made  on,  or  affixed  to,  any  other 
piece  of  goods,  the  goods  containing  the  same,  shall  be  forfeit- 
ed ;  and  the  person  so  offending  and  each  person  aiding  or  as- 
sisting therein,  shall  be  liable  to  the  penalty  in  this  section  be- 
fore provided." 

Now  upon  perusing  the  foregoing  provisions,  it  must  be  ob- 
vious, that  to  render  them  efficient,  a  system  of  espionage  must 
be  introduced  into  society,  which  will  render  us  subject  to  all 
the  oppressions,  exactions  and  extortions,  which  malevolence 
and  fraud  can  suggest.  The  stores  of  the  merchants  and  shop- 
keepers will  be  perpetually  liable  to  the  visits  of  common  in- 
formers, who,  with  the  view  of  plundering,  or  of  injuring  the 
reputation  of  those  who  succeed  in  life  better  than  themselves, 
will  lodge  false  accusations  with  the  legal  authorities.  Prose- 
cutions will  be  without  end.  Rogues  will  enter  privately  into 
the  stores  of  merchants,  or,  seduce  apprentices  and  clerks  to 
injure  their  employers  by  affixing  false  marks  on  goods,  or,  by 
altering  or  changing  the  true  ones.  And  how  is  the  employer 
to  justify  himself,  but  by  a  declaration  on  oath,  which,  by  the 
very  terms  of  this  act,  is  pronounced  to  be  evidence  inferior  to 
the  bare  opinion  of  an  appraiser  ?  We  can  conceive  of  nothing 
more  revolting  to  the  feelings  of  a  free  people,  than  to  see  their 
property  and  hard  earnings  thus  placed  at  the  mercy  of  knaves 
and  unprincipled  profligates.  But  to  understand  this  subject 
better,  let  us  go  into  details. 

Eveiy  piece  of  woollen  cloth,  delivered  from  the  custom- 
house, must  have  the  appraiser's  mark  affixed  to  it,  stating  the 
minimum  valuation  at  which  it  is  rated,  that  is,  whether  it  be 
valued  at  fifty  cents,  one  hundred  cents,  two  hundred  and  fifty 
cents,  or  four  dollars  per  square  yard.  This  mark  may  be  either 
paper,  paste-board,  wood,  tin  or  lead.  Well,  with  these  marks 
upon  them,  a  dozen  pieces  of  cloth  are  sold  to  a  retailer,  and  in 
the  course  of  the  handling  they  undergo  in  his  shop,  the  marks 
fall  off  and  are  lost.  Now,  if  they  have  no  marks  on  them,  are 
the  goods  liable  to  forfeiture,  or  are  they  not  ?  The  bill  says 
nothing  about  such  a  case.  If  they  are  liable  to  forfeiture,  then 
would  such  forfeiture  be  unjust  and  iniquitous.  If  they  are  not 
liable  to  forfeiture,  then  the  whole  law  would  not  be  worth  a 
straw,  for  the  read)^  answer  by  all  smugglers,  would  be,  that 
the  marks  had  fallen  off. 

Again,  a  malignant  enemy  of  an  importing  merchant  desires 
to  be  revenged  for  some  real  or  supposed  injury,  committed  by 
the  latter.     He  contrives,  by  some  means  or  other,  to  get  into 


28  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

the  store  of  the  merchant,  and  to  cut  off  from  a  piece  of  goods 
the  true  mark,  and  to  put  on  a  forged  one,  and  then  lodges  his 
information  with  the  collector.  Tlie  inquisitors  are  sent,  and 
finding,  as  alleged,  that  a  piece  of  cloth  has  a  mark  upon  it,  not 
corresponding  \\  ith  its  quality,  they  have  no  remedy  left  but  to 
seize  it,  and  to  prosecute  the  owner.  Now,  we  should  like  to 
know,  by  what  possible  means  this  unfortunate  owner  could 
prove,  that  the  forgery  was  not  committed  by  himself?  The 
prima  facie  evidence  is  against  him,  and  to  prove  a  negative  in 
such  a  case  is  impossible.  Upon  his  character  for  integrity, 
honesty  and  fair  dealing,  he  cannot  rely,  because  that  has  been 
already  impunged  by  a  refusal  to  give  as  much  credit  at  the 
custom-house  to  his  oath,  as  to  another  man's  opinion.  We 
see  no  remedy  for  him  but  to  submit  to  the  payment  of  the 
double  penalty,  the  forfeiture  of  his  goods,  and  the  loss  of  his 
reputation. 

But  notwithstanding  all  this  arbitrary  and  inquisitorial  pro- 
ceeding, there  are  defects  in  the  system  which  must  forever 
render  it  incapable  of  being  applied  to  any  end  beneficial  to  the 
parties  desiring  its  adoption.  It  may  prevent  indeed  fraudulent 
entries  at  the  custom-house,  but  it  cannot  prevent,  in  the  most 
trifling  degree,  real,  open,  bona  fide  smuggling.  We  should 
like  to  know  who  is  to  be  the  judge,  on  the  borders  of  the  St. 
Lawrence,  Lakes  Ontario,  Erie,  and  Michigan,  of  the  authen- 
ticity of  the  marks  placed  upon  a  piece  of  cloth  by  the  ap- 
praisers of  Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  New  York,  or  Boston  1  We 
should  like  to  know  when  a  piece  of  cloth  is  once  cut  up,  whose 
property  the  mark  becomes,  and  what  is  to  prevent  a  bonafida 
smuggler  from  getting  as  many  genuine  marks  as  he  has  pieces 
of  goods,  and  affixing  them  as  exactly  to  the  respective  quali- 
ities,  as  the  appraisers  themselves  did  ?  The  idea  of  preventing 
smuggling,  in  a  country  like  this,  so  conveniently  bordering 
for  a  thousand  miles  upon  the  territory  of  a  nation,  against 
which  our  prohibitory  laws  are  principally  levelled,  is  pre- 
posterous, and  could  the  matter  only  be  regarded  by  the 
manufacturers  in  its  true  light,  they  would  discover,  that  for 
every  piece  of  goods  that  are  shut  out  of  the  front  door,  two 
pieces  are  brought  in  at  the  back  door. 

In  making  these  remarks,  we  are  not  treading  upon  unknown 
ground.  We  have  seen  the  operation  of  such  laws  in  other 
countries,  viz  :  in  the  West  Indies,  and  in  South  America.  We 
have  seen  the  process  of  having  packages  of  merchandize  taken 
to  the  custom-house  for  examination  and  measurement.  We 
have  seen  there,  the  confusion,  the  disfigurement,  and  the  plun- 
der incident  to  such  an  operation,  and  the  necessary  result  of 
such  inconvenient  laws — corrupt  bargains  with  the  oflicers,  to 
exempt  the  importer  from  this  grievance.  We  have  also  seen 
the  operation  of  marks,  and  had  once  occasion,  in  an  official 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  29. 

capacity,  to  remonstrate  to  a  foreign  government  against  an 
injustice  practised  towards  a  respectable  American  merchant, 
by  the  forfeiture  of  a  quantity  of  Russia  duck,  found  in  a  store 
after  a  lapse  of  some  years,  deficient  in  marks,  when  evidence 
of  the  most  conclusive  sort  was  adduced  of  the  fact  of  the  du- 
ties having  been  regularly  paid.  The  circumstances  of  the 
case,  as  brought  to  our  knowledge,  left  not  a  shadow  of  doubt 
of  the  fact,  that  the  marks  had  been  cut  off,  at  different  periods, 
by  the  persons  who  lodged  the  information,  or  their  accom- 
plices, for  the  purpose  of  robbing  the  merchant  in  question, 
which  was  accomplished  to  the  extent  of  three  thousand  dol- 
lars, the  court  deciding  that  the  absence  of  the  marks  w-as  con- 
clusive on  the  subject,  and  the  American  government  refusing 
to  authorise  its  representative  to  sustain  the  claim  of  the  mer- 
chant. 

We  cannot  bring  our  minds  to  believe,  that  such  a  bill  as 
that  reported  by  the  Committee  of  Manufactures,  can  possibly 
be  supported  by  a  majority  in  Congress.  Amongst  the  advo- 
cates of  the  tariff,  there  are  many  intelligent  men,  who  must  see 
that  the  effect  of  any  measures  which  have  a  tendency  to  throw 
further  difficulties  in  the  way  of  commerce,  is  a  virtual  increase 
of  the  existing  duty,  and  that  a  further  increase  of  duty  must 
increase  the  bounty  on  smuggling,  which,  after  all  that  has  been 
said  on  the  subject  of  protection,  is  the  branch  of  industry  now 
most  highly  protected  in  this  country.  To  any  one  who  doubts 
that  this  interest  is  in  a  most  thriving  way,  we  can  state,  that  in 
a  conversation  lately,  in  this  city,  with  a  gentleman  who  resides 
in  Quebec,  we  were  assured,  that  during  the  last  year  one 
hundred  and  fifty  vessels  arrived  at  that  port  more  than  in  any 
former  year,  and  that  there  could  not  be  a  doubt,  that  smug- 
gling was  very  extensively  practised.  This  we  know  also  to 
be  the  conviction  of  many  of  the  principal  merchants  in  our 
cities,  and,  indeed,  how  can  it  be  otherwise,  when  a  man  can 
make  more  in  a  single  cold  night  on  the  Canada  frontier,  with 
a  capital  of  a  thousand  dollars,  than  he  can  earn  by  importing 
goods,  in  the  regular  way,  for  a  whole  year  1  It  has  been  men- 
tioned to  us,  in  a  w^ay  that  leaves  us  no  room  to  doubt  of  its 
truth,  that  merchants,  now  residing  in  our  cities,  who  were  for- 
merly importers  to  large  amounts,  order  their  invoices  to  Ca- 
nada, and  sell  them  deliverable  there,  without  taking  the  trou- 
ble to  inquire  whether  the  purchasers  intend  them  for  consump- 
tion on  this  or  the  other  side  of  the  boundary  line. 

A  story  is  told  of  a  prisoner  who  was  indicted  before  a 
court  for  murder,  and  who,  when  the  question  was  put  to  him, 
"  Do  you  plead  guilty  or  not  guilty  ?"  very  seriously  replied — 
"  Please  your  Honour,  the  subject  is  so  very  disagreeable  a 
one,  that  I  think  we  had  better  drop  it,  and  say  no  more 
about  it." 
C* 


30  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

The  case  is  precisely  the  same  with  the  American  Systeni 
reasoners.  Whenever  they  hear  the  subject  of  smugghng  men- 
tioned, they  try  to  shde  by  it,  and  although  they  know  that  in 
Great  Britain  a  fleet  of  revenue  vessels  and  an  army  of  cus- 
tom-house ofiicers  are  not  capable  of  preventing  it,  they  display 
a  desire  to  drop  it  and  say  no  more  about  it.  Like  the  foohsh 
bird  which  hides  his  head  when  he  sees  danger  approach,  they 
seem  to  think  that  they  shun  all  risk,  by  avoiding  to  speak  of  it 
This  is  indeed  an  evidence  of  delusion,  not  common  for  per- 
sons who  have  shewn  such  a  keen-scentedness  in  matters  touch- 
ing their  own  interests,  as  the  manufacturers,  and  yet  the  pro- 
bability of  an  extensive  system  of  smuggUng  on  the  frontiers  and 
the  sea-board,  has  never  yet  been  admitted  by  any  writer  within 
our  knowledge,  on  that  side  of  the  question,  as  an  evil  that  can- 
not be  guarded  against. 

The  greatest  danger,  which  we  have  always  anticipated  on 
this  head,  was,  from  the  act  of  smuggling  being  rendered  ex- 
cusable by  popular  opinion,  upon  the  ground  of  its  being  a  mere 
evasion  of  an  unconstitutional  law.  This  doctrine  is  now  pub- 
licly proclaimed  in  some  quarters,  and  is  likely  to  become  po- 
pular from  the  sanction  given  to  it  by  intelligent  writers.  Al- 
ready has  there  existed  in  this  country,  as  in  all  others,  a  class 
of  people  who  have  distinguished  between  an  act,  evil  in  itself, 
and  an  act,  the  commission  of  which  would  be  wrong,  merely 
because  prohibited  by  law ;  and  there  has  consequently  always 
been  a  class  of  persons  who  have  had  no  conscientious  scruples 
upon  smuggling,  where  an  oath  can  be  avoided,  although  the 
moral  sentiment  of  the  great  mass  of  the  people  has  not  justified 
this  discrimination.  The  American  System  has  now,  however, 
raised  up  a  new  class,  who  will  feel  no  compunctions  v/hat- 
ever  upon  this  subject,  regarding,  as  they  do,  the  act  prohibit- 
ing, more  unlawful  and  unjustifiable,  than  the  act  prohibited. 


ESSAY     No.  XI. 

FEBRUARY   3,   1830. 


Trade  beticeen  the  United  States  and  Madeira.  Influence  of 
high  duties  upon  wine,  in  diminishing  exports,  as  well  as  im- 
ports.  Effects  upon  consumption  of  a  small  increase  in  price. 

THE  commerce  between  the  United  States  and  the  island 
of  Madeira,  affords  one  of  the  most  fatal  examples  of  the  folly 
of  tampering  with  trade,  and  of  the  ruinous  consequences  of 
high  duties,  which  is  afforded  by  our  custom-house  returns. 


OF    FREE    TRADE. 


31 


Dur  exports,  which  were  once  two  millions  three  hundred  and 
ihirty-six  thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty  six  dollars  in  a  year, 
fiave  dwindled  away  to  one  hundred  and  eleven  thousand  nine 
Hundred  and  thirty  three  dollars,  as  will  appear  from  the  fol- 
lowing statement,  which  shews  the  amount  exported  in  the  fol- 
lowing years  : —  , 


1798 

-   332,625 

1814 

32,540 

1799 

203,185 

1815 

613,942 

1800 

-   522,728 

1816 

-   353,342 

1801 

-   528,344 

1817 

-   448,832 

1802 

-   481,053 

1818 

-   486,186 

1803 

370,878 

1819 

320,875 

1804 

-   586,869 

1820 

-   223,928 

1805 

-   479,182 

1821 

-   193,414 

1806 

-   519,213 

1822 

-   186,952 

1807 

-   528,375 

1823 

-   117,685 

1808 

-   131,102 

1824 

-   315,896 

1809 

-  2,336,656 

1825 

-   122,840 

1810 

-  1,587,641 

1826 

119,058 

1811 

-   961,733 

1827 

-   100,153 

1812 

-   700,225 

1828 

-   111,933 

1813 

-   361,719 

The  above  table  commences  with  the  first  year  in  which  an 
account  was  kept  of  the  exports  to  Madeira,  separate  from 
those  to  the  other  Portuguese  dominions,  and  up  to  1802,  in- 
clusive, comprises  the  articles  of  foreign  as  well  as  of  domestic 
growth.  Since  that  year  the  exports  include  none  but  domes- 
tic productions,  of  which  the  principal  were  flour,  corn,  corn 
meal,  ship  bread,  lumber,  fish,  oil,  spermaceti  candles,  beef, 
pork,  butter,  lard,  hams,  bacon,  rice,  bees'  wax,  tallow,  candles 
and  soap.  Now  if  we  can  perceive  a  great  falling  off"  in  the 
amount  of  these  exports,  since  the  increase  of  the  duties  upon 
Madeira  wine,  it  is  very  fair  to  conclude,  that  a  great  part,  if 
not  the  whole  of  it,  has  resulted  from  that  increase.  By  the 
act  of  1794,  the  duty  on  London  Particular  was  fifty-six  cents, 
and  upon  other  Madeira,  40  cents  per  gallon.  By  the  act  of 
1816,  the  duty,  which  had  been  raised  by  the  war  act,  was 
retained  at  one  hundred  cents  upon  all  kinds  of  Madeira,  and 
continued  at  that  rate  until  1828,  when  it  was  reduced  to  fifty 
cents,  to  take  effect  from  the  1st  of  January,  1829. 

To  those  who  have  not  been  accustomed  to  reflect  upon  the 
great  influence  upon  consumption,  of  a  small  change  in  the  price 
of  a  commodity,  the  foregoing  revolution  in  oiu"  commerce  with 
Madeira  will  hardly  appear  to  have  been  brought  about  by  so 
slight  an  increase  of  duty.  To  such  we  would  remark,  that  in 
some  articles  of  luxury,  a  resort  to  a  diminished  quantity  is  had 
upon  the  most  moderate  rise  in  price,  or  the  use  of  it  is  aban- 


32  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

doned  altogether.  An  increase  of  sixty  cents  in  the  duty  on 
one  gallon  of  Madeira  wine,  would  occasion  an  increase  of 
price,  by  the  time  it  reached  the  hand  of  the  consumer,  of  se- 
venty-five cents,  inasmuch  as  each  vender  charges  a  profit  upon 
his  advance  of  the  amount  of  the  duty.  Wine,  which  used  to  be 
three  dollars, must  be  sold  at  three  dollars  and  seventy-five  cents; 
and  our  wine  merchants  know,  that  the  great  mass  of  persons 
who  used  to  purchase  common  Madeira  wine,  regarded  three 
dollars  as  the  maximum  price  which  they  would  consent  to 
give.  We  understand  that,  in  Philadelphia,  there  is  not  now  a 
gallon  of  Madeira  wine  drunk,  where  formerly  there  was  a 
demi-jean,  and  we  have  the  authority  of  an  extensive  dealer  in 
wine  for  asserting,  that  many,  who  were  formerly  liberal  con- 
sumers of  wine,  are  now  drinkers  of  brandy.  The  misfortune 
of  this  too  is,  that  after  new  habits  are  formed,  it  is  no  easy 
matter  to  change  them,  and  one  of  the  lamentable  effects  flow- 
ing from  the  American  System  is,  that  it  has  converted  drink- 
ers of  wine  into  drinkers  of  spirits.  If  any  one  doubts  our  po- 
sition, as  to  the  influence  of  a  small  rise  of  price  upon  consump- 
tion, let  him  inquire  of  his  next  door  neighbour,  whether  he  does 
not,  in  marketing  for  his  family,  establish  in  his  own  mind  a 
limit  for  articles  of  luxury,  such  as  butter,  eggs,  lamb,  aspara- 
gus, cream  cheese,  lobsters,  young  chickens,  strawberries  and 
other  delicate  fruits,  beyond  which  he  will  not  purchase,  and  he 
will  soon  ascertain,  that  there  is  not  an  individual  whose  con- 
sumption of  luxuries  is  not  regulated  by  very  arbitrary  laws. 

That  we  should  import  more  wine  from  Maderia  than  we  pay 
for  with  our  exports,  which  is  the  case  at  present,  is  one  of  the 
consequences  of  our  own  acts.  Madeira,  at  one  time,  took  from 
us  forty  thousand  barrels  of  flour  per  annum,  besides  large  quan- 
tities of  corn.  She  paid  us  in  wine,  of  which  we  took  from  her, 
at  that  time,  about  five  thousand  pipes.  We  then  resolved,  by 
increasing  the  duty  on  wine,  to  diminish  the  extent  of  our  trade, 
and  we  now  import  only  two  thousand  five  hundred  pipes,  for 
a  population  nearly  double.  This  step  drove  Madeira  to  find 
out  another  market  for  bread.  She  found  it  in  Sardinia,  from 
which  country  she  now  derives  the  supply  which  she  formerly 
drew  from  the  United  States,  and  at  a  much  cheaper  rate;  and 
as  Sardinia  takes  no  wine  from  her,  she  pays  for  her  bread  with 
the  funds  which  we  pay  her  for  wine.  This  roundabout  com- 
merce is  now  the  most  profitable  for  Madeira.  How  soon  our  re- 
duction of  duties  will  bring  back  trade  into  its  old  channels,  time 
will  determine.  The  taste  and  fashion  for  wine,  will  gradually 
return  with  its  cheapness,  and  as  the  vessels  which  bring  it  to 
this  country  will  be  able  to  carry  outward  cargoes  at  a  very 
low  freight,  there  cannot  but  be  a  revival,  to  some  extent,  of 
the  export  trade.  The  nation,  however,  has  lost  by  its  folly 
millions  which  can  never  be  regained,  and  has  driven  thousands 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  33 

from  the  consumption  of  a  wholesome  and  innocent  hquor,  to 
inebriating  substitutes,  which  they  can  never  be  induced  to 
abandon.* 


ESSAY    No.    XII. 


FEBRUARY   10,    1830. 

The  Protective  System  not  the  settled  policy  of  the  country.  Its 
first  introduction  into  the  legislation  of  the  United  States  in 
the  year  1824,  Unsoundness  of  the  doctrine  that  a  bad  sys- 
tem ought  to  be  adhered  to,  merely  because  it  has  long  existed. 

SOME  poUticians  affect  to  beheve,  that  the  protecting  policy 
IS  the  settled  policy  of  the  country ;  and  although  the  indivi- 
duals who  are  now  in  the  enjoyment  of  monopolies,  no  doubt 
would  wish  such  to  be  the  case,  yet  we  cannot  see  how  it  is 
possible  for  any  statesman,  with  the  evidence  wliich  is  before 
his  eyes,  to  fall  into  such  an  erroneous  belief 

The  high  duty  system,  as  it  regards  cotton  and  woollen  fab- 
rics, was  brought  upon  the  country  by  the  necessities  of  the 
late  war.  It  was  a  system  established  solely  for  the  raising  of 
revenue  for  the  support  of  government,  and  when  it  was  pro- 
longed by  the  act  of  1816,  it  was  so  far  from  being  adopted  as 
a  settled  policy,  that  the  act  bears  upon  its  very  face  the  most 
conclusive  evidence  that  such  was  not  the  fact.  A  reference 
to  that  act  will  shew,  that  its  object  was  a  measure  of  tempo- 
rary relief  to  the  existing  manufacturers,  designed,  not  to  render 
high  duties  perpetual  charges  upon  the  pockets  of  the  people,  but 
to  save  from  imminent  ruin,  those  who  had  embarked  their 
capitals  in  buildings  and  machinery.  It  declared,  that,  after 
the  expiration  of  three  years,  the  duties  on  those  articles  should 
be  lowered.  But  this  is  not  all:  Prior  to  the  expiration  of  the 
three  years  expressed,  viz.,  on  April  20,  1818,  a  second  mani- 
festation of  the  views  of  Congress  was  given,  in  an  act  to  postpone 
this  reduction  for  an  additional  term  of  seven  years.  The  first 
act,  therefore,  which  adopted  the  protecting  policy  as  a  per- 
mament  one,  was  the  tariff  act  of  1824,  and  now,  after  a  lapse 
of  six  years,  during  the  whole  of  which  time,  the  country  has 
resounded,  from  one  extremity  to  the  other,  with  the  cry  that 

*  Since  the  reduction  of  the  duty  on  the  wine  of  Madeira,  the  exports  to  that  island 
have  been  as  follows — 

1829  ....      $175,074  1832        ....        14.5,667 

1830  ....        155,719  1833        ....        119,341 

1831  ....         171,563 

This  statement  shews  an  increase,  but  one  so  small,  as  to  prove,  incontestibly,  the  dif- 
ficulty of  restoring  a  commerce  once  lost. 


34  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

the  policy  was  ruinous  to  commerce  and  agriculture,  and  was 
not  only  impolitic,  but  unconstitutional,  grave  statesmen  are  to 
be  found,  who  openly  assert  that  they  conceive  it  to  be  the  set- 
tled system  of  the  country. 

We  should  like  those  who  advocate  this  doctrine,  to  inform 
us  of  the  process  by  which  they  have  arrived  at  this  conclu- 
sion. Is  it  from  the  length  of  time  that  it  has  been  in  existence  1 
Is  it  because  six  years  have  revolved  since  it  was  forced  upon 
the  country,  in  opposition  to  the  agricultural  interests  of  the 
South,  and  the  commercial  and  navigating  interests  of  the 
North?  Why,  the  most  insignificant  custom  or  right  could  not 
be  substantiated  by  an  existence  of  so  very  limited  a  term ;  and 
shall  we  be  told,  that  an  incubus,  which  has  been  bearing  its  de- 
structive weight  upon  the  body  politic  for  the  short  space  of  six 
years,  has  thereby  acquired  a  perpetual  right  to  occupy  its  seat '( 
The  idea  is  revolting.  Men  of  pliant  consciences,  or  of  feeble 
minds,  may  whip  themselves,  or  be  seduced,  into  the  persuasion 
that  that  pohcy  is  permanent,  which  favours  their  own  inte- 
rests, or  accords  with  their  own  fallacious  reasoning ;  but  how 
those  who  are  exempt  from  these  two  defects  can  abandon  their 
posts  as  sentinels  of  truth,  and  surrender  the  country  to  the  do- 
minion of  error  and  delusion,  is  not  easily  to  be  comprehended. 
Of  what  avail  is  it,  that  men  of  mighty  powers  of  mind,  skilled 
in  the  deepest  knowledge  which  belongs  to  the  science  of  go- 
vernment, and  principled  in  the  doctrines  which  alone  consti- 
tute political  philosophy,  shall  be  placed  in  iiigh  stations,  if  they 
are  not  to  exert  those  powers,  that  knowledge,  and  those  prin- 
ciples, in  proclaiming  the  truths,  a  knowledge  of  which  they 
know  to  be  essential  to  the  well-being  of  the  country  1  Can  any 
imaginable  circumstance  justify  an  acquiescence  on  the  part  of 
a  legislator  in  a  system  of  legislative  folly,  contrary  to  his  con- 
victions of  what  is  right  1  If  such  doctrine  were  admissible,  then 
would  error  never  be  eradicated  after  it  had  once  taken  its 
seat  in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  and  ignorance,  delusion  and 
usurpation  would  triumph  over  wisdom,  common  sense  and  the 
constitution. 

In  combating  against  error,  the  great  consolation  enjoyed  by 
the  champion  of  truth,  is  found  in  the  conviction,  in  his  own 
mind,  that  magna  est  Veritas  et  prevalebit.  The  early  apostles 
of  the  Christian  faith  were  cheered  amidst  the  persecutions 
which  they  experienced  by  this  maxim  of  comfort.  The  phi- 
losophers who  have  at  various  periods  advanced  the  cause  of 
science,  and  by  successive  victories  over  error  have  planted 
the  systems  which  are  now  received,  were  encouraged  in  their 
onward  march  by  the  assurance  that  truth  was  mighty,  and 
would  prevail.  The  sages  who  planned  the  American  revolu- 
tion, and  staked  their  lives,  their  fortunes  and  their  sacred 
honours,  upon  the  issue,  could  only  have  ventured  upon  so  ha- 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  35 

zardous  an  experiment  as  that  of  proclaiming  what  was  every- 
where denied,  that  the  people  have  a  capacity  for  self  govern- 
ment, from  possessing  an  intimate  conviction  of  the  all-power- 
ful force  of  truth.  And,  lastly,  the  statesmen  of  Great  Britain, 
who,  by  their  manly  and  enlightened  course,  are  now  combat- 
ing the  errors  of  a  system,  not  of  six  years'  duration,  but  of 
some  hundred  years'  growth,  are  supported  in  a  warfare  against 
prejudice  and  interest  unparalleled  in  other  countries,  by  the 
firm  persuasion,  that  the  sword  of  truth,  when  wielded  in  de- 
fence of  the  best  interests  of  a  country,  must  sooner  or  later 
prove  triumphant.  What  should  wc  think,  if  Mr.  Huskisson, 
towards  whom  the  eyes  of  all  the  liberal  politicians  of  the  old 
and  new  world  have  so  long  been  turned,  who  has  immortal- 
ized himself  as  the  great  champion  of  an  enlightened  and  wise 
course  of  policy,  should  all  at  once  rise  up  in  his  seat  in  Parlia- 
ment, and  vote  in  favour  of  the  most  oppressive  restrictions  on 
trade,  declaring,  at  the  same  time,  that  his  opinions  of  the  inju- 
rious and  destructive  tendency  of  those  restrictions  remained  un- 
changed, and  justifying  his  vote  by  the  shallow  and  untenable 
plea,  that  he  considered  himself  bound  in  duty  to  support  the 
restrictive  system,  because  a  majority  of  Parliament  had  for  cen- 
turies fastened  it  upon  the  country  ?  Would  we  not  condemn 
him  as  an  apostate  from  the  truth,  and  as  a  deserter  from  the 
cause  he  was  under  moral  obligation  to  defend  ?  And  yet  he 
would  have  the  venerable  plea  of  antiquity  to  protect  him,  of 
which  an  American  statesman  is  altogether  destitute. 


ESSAY    No.    XIII. 

FEBRUARY    10,    1830. 


The  British  Corn  laws :  Influence  of,  upon  the  cominerce  of  the 
United  States. 

BY  the  late  advices  from  England,  to  January  4th,  some  very 
useful  information  is  to  be  collected,  as  to  the  operation  of  the 
corn  laws  upon  the  interests  of  this  country,  and  as  that  is  one 
of  the  most  important  subjects  which  can  occupy  the  attention 
of  our  public  men,  we  have  thought  it  worth  while  to  draw  their 
attention  to  it. 

In  an  article  under  the  London  head  of  January  2d,  remark- 
ing upon  the  grain  market,  the  following  facts  are  furnished  : 

That  the  average  price  of  wheat  in  England,  during  the  last 
three  years,  was  as  follows : 

1827 — .55s.  per  quarter  of  560  lbs. 

1828— 59s.  6d. 

1829— 66s.  7d.         «  " 


36  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

These  prices,  reduced  into  Winchester  bushels  of  60lbs.,  and 
estimating  exchange  on  London  at  10  per  cent,  advance, 
would  be  equal  to  144  cents  for  1827 — 156  cents  for  1828,  and 
175  cents  for  1829. 

The  year  1829,  it  will  be  recollected,  was  a  year  of  very 
great  scarcity,  owing  to  the  deficient  harvest  of  1828,  and  yet 
the  highest  price  for  wheat,  during  that  year,  according  to  the 
same  statement,  was  only  upon  an  average  for  the  first  quarter 
of  the  year,  72s.  5d. — for  the  second  quarter,  70s. — for  the  third 
quarter,  60s.  6d. — and,  for  the  fourth,  ending  on  1st  of  Decem- 
ber, 57s.  6d. 

It  is  a  notion  widely  entertained  in  this  country,  that  the 
British  corn  laws  exclude  from  the  British  markets  an  al- 
most incalculable  quantity  of  American  grain,  and  it  is  this  er- 
roneous idea  that  does  more  to  strengthen  the  American  Sys- 
tem, than  any  other  single  consideration.  Now,  if  in  seasons 
of  ordinary  abundance  in  England,  the  price  of  grain,  as  is 
shewn  above,  does  not  exceed  one  hundred  and  fifty  cents  per 
bushel  of  sixty  pounds,  it  must  be  very  clear,  that  a  very  mo- 
derate duty,  say  such  an  one  as  we  ourselves  impose  on  foreign 
wheat,  twenty-five  cents  per  bushel,  would,  in  ordinary  years, 
exclude  our  grain ;  for  as  freight  cannot  be  estimated  at  less 
than  twenty  cents  per  bushel,  and  insurance,  commissions  and 
other  charges,  at  less  than  ten  cents  more,  and  as  the  price  of 
grain  in  our  seaports  cannot  upon  an  average  be  estimated  be- 
low one  dollar  per  bushel,  nothing  could  be  gained  by  its  ship- 
ment. Indeed  the  proof  of  this  fact  is  so  clear  to  any  man  who 
knows  how  to  reduce  sterling  money  into  currency,  and  who 
will  take  the  trouble  of  reading  the  first  English  price  current 
he  meets  with,  that  none  can  any  longer  believe  this  fallacy, 
who  is  not  determined  to  remain  in  ignorance. 

But  even  if  this  were  not  as  we  have  described  it,  there  is 
another  reason,  which  would  completely  put  at  rest  the  idea, 
that  we  should  greatly  profit  by  the  abolition  of  the  corn  laws  of 
England.  It  is,  that  other  countries  can  supply  her  much  cheaper 
than  we  can.  Mr.  Jacobs,  in  his  "  Report  on  the  trade  in  corn,  or- 
dered by  the  House  of  Commons  to  be  printed  14th  March, 
1826,"  calculates  that  wheat  can  be  imported  into  England,  free 
of  duty,  from  the  maritime  provinces  of  Russia  at  forty-three 
shillings  per  quarter,  from  Cracow  at  forty-five  shillings  and 
sixpence,  and  from  Warsaw  at  forty-eight  shilhngs.  Since  the 
opening  of  trade  to  the  Black  Sea,  we  have  seen  the  price  of 
wheat  at  Odessa,  quoted  we  think  below  twenty-five  shillings 
the  quarter.  These  are  facts  which  are  within  the  reach  of 
any  person  who  wishes  to  understand  the  true  state  of  the  case, 
and  as  they  are  facts  which  have  a  most  intimate  connection 
with  our  legislation  upon  foreign  interests,  we  think  that  the 
raising  of  a  Committee  in  Congress,  for  the  purpose  of  embody- 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  37 

ing  in  a  report  all  the  information  which  could  be  collected  on 
the  subject  of  the  foreign  grain  markets,  would  be  of  incalcula- 
ble advantage  to  the  nation.  To  a  public  document,  there  is 
attached  a  weight  and  influence  which  does  not  belong  to  a  pri- 
vate composition,  and  besides  this  there  is  given  to  it  a  circu- 
lation through  the  gazettes  which  no  other  publication  could 
possibly  have. 

That  other  nations  can  supply  Great  Britain  with  grain 
cheaper  than  we  can,  has  been  we  think  most  clearly  demon- 
strated by  the  experience  of  the  past  year.  From  'he  statement 
above  referred  to,  we  learn  that  the  quantity  of  foreign  wheat 
entered  for  consumption  in  the  United  Kingdom,  during  the 
year,  was  about  a  million  and  a  half  of  quarters,  equal  to  four- 
teen millions  of  Winchester  bushels.  And  what  proportion  of 
this  was  supplied  by  the  United  States  ?  The  statement  before 
us  does  not  inform  us,  but  from  enquiries  made  personally  of 
merchants  whose  business  it  was  to  be  acquainted  with  the 
fact,  we  think  we  are  far  within  the  truth,  when  we  say,  that 
the  quantity  of  flour  exported  from  the  United  States  to  Great 
Britain,  between  September,  1828,  when  the  news  of  the  fail- 
ure of  the  crop  first  reached  the  United  States,  and  September, 
1829,  did  not  exceed  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  barrels, 
equal  to  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  bushels  of  wheat. 
And  why  did  we  not  export  a  larger  quantity  ? — Simplv  be- 
cause we  had  it  not  to  spare,  and  this  fact  of  itself  is  sufficient 
to  put  down,  at  once,  the  doctrine  so  constantly  harped  upon 
by  certain  pohtical  arithmeticians,  that  agriculture  is  so  over- 
done that  the  farmer  knows  not  what  to  do  with  his  produce.* 


ESSAY   No.   XIV. 


FEBRUARY    13,    1830. 


On  the  infiuence  upon  public  and  private  prosperity  of  labour- 
saving  machinery.  Absurdity  of  the  prevailing  opinion  that 
labour-saving  machines  are  injurious  to  the  interests  of  the 
working  classes. 

Mr.  Editor — I   saw  some  time  ago  in  one  of  the  papers,  an 
account  of  a  newly-invented  cart,  by  which  one  man,  a  boy 

*  By  the  annual  ('onimercial  Stntemcnt  of  the  year  ending  on  the  30th  September, 
1829,  subsequently  published,  it  appears  that  the  quantity  of  flour  exported  to  Kn^land, 
Ireland  and  Scotland  was  -221, 176  barrels,  equal  to  1, 10.=i,f;80  bushels,  besides  400llnish- 
els  of  wheat.  251,564  bushels  of  corn,  and  130  barrels  of  Indian  meal — being  less  than 
the  one-tenth  of  what  was  imported. 

D 

"  /'^/l  *>*..<  QQ 


38  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

and  three  horses,  can  remove  and  embank  as  much  dirt  in  one 
day,  as  twenty  men  can  with  three  common  carts.  Now,  as  I 
belong  to  the  American  System  party,  I  look  upon  this  inven- 
tion as  pregnant  with  the  most  disastrous  consequences.  It  will 
inevitably  throw  out  of  employment  thousands  of  the  industri- 
ous poor,  who  now  obtain  their  living  by  working  on  our  nu- 
merous rail  roads  and  canals,  and  who  will  not  in  any  imagi- 
nable mode  be  able  to  obtain  the  means  of  subsistence  for  them- 
selves and  families.  Would  it  not  be  a  thousand  times  more 
beneficial  to  the  public,  that  the  old  fashioned  process  of  dig- 
ging and  carting  should  be  adhered  to,  rather  than  that  this 
new-fangled  contrivance  should  be  introduced  into  general  use  ? 
Only  reflect  for  a  moment,  Mr.  Editor,  upon  the  immense 
amount  of  American  Industry  that  would  be  thrown  out  of  em- 
ployment. The  statement  says,  that  the  work  can  be  done,  by 
the  new  method,  at  one-sixth  of  the  expense  of  the  old ;  in  other 
words,  that  one  man  will  be  able  to  do  what  it  used  to  take  six 
men  to  perform.  The  very  thoughts  of  this  are  appalling,  and, 
to  the  philanthropic  mind,  are  of  the  most  grief-inspiring  cha- 
racter. Instead  of  seeing  our  industrious  labouring  population 
having  full  employment,  one  of  the  very  motives  for  which  in- 
ternal improvements  have  been  so  widely  introduced,  five-sixths 
of  them  will  be  discharged,  and  thus  will  an  immense  capital 
of  labour  be  sunk  to  the  community,  which  could  have  been 
profitably  employed  in  real  American  Industry. 

I  have  not  addressed  you,  since  the  time  when  I  gave  you  some 
hints  for  the  Free  Trade  Advocate,  upon  the  advantages  of 
snow  storms,  in  affording  employment  to  the  poor. 

Yours,  truly,         A  Friend  to  American  Industry. 

These  American  System  reasoners  are  the  most  incorrigible 
logicians  in  the  world.  The  doctrine  here  advanced  is  the  old 
story  about  manufactures  giving  employment  to  the  poor, 
which  has  been  so  often  refuted,  that  one  would  suppose  it 
hardly  possible  that  a  vestige  of  it  should  remain.  The  fact, 
however,  is  otherwise.  It  is  not  long  since  w^e  had  a  conver- 
sation with  a  respectable  English  gentleman,  in  which  he  ex- 
pressed his  opinion,  that  the  chief  cause  of  the  great  distress 
which  has  lately  existed  in  Great  Britain,  was  the  extensive  in- 
troduction of  labour-saving  machinery.  He  said  he  considered 
labour-saving  machinery  as  a  positive  evil,  and  byway  of  illus- 
trating how  it  was  so,  he  expressed  himself  as  follows :  "  I  recol- 
lect, when  I  was  a  boy,  in  England,  I  have  often  gone  to  a  farm 
house,  where  I  have  seen  the  family  all  industriously  occupied. 
One  would  be  spinning,  and  another  w'eaving.  At  the  present 
day  such  employments  are  entirely  banished  from  many  houses, 
owing  to  the  cheapness  with  which  cotton  and  w^oollen  cloths 
are  to  be  had."  We  asked  him  if  he  thought  that  an  invention 
which  would  enable  two  persons  of  the  family  to  do  what  it 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  39 

formerly  took  three  to  perform,  was  an  evil  ?  He  replied  in  the 
affirmative,  and  finding  him  to  be  a  disciple  of  Bell's  Weekly- 
Messenger,  we  gave  up  his  conversion  as  hopeless. 

That  labour-saving  machines,  when  first  introduced,  do  ope- 
rate, for  a  time,  to  the  prejudice  of  the  individuals  whose  pur- 
suits have  been  disturbed  by  them,  is  undeniably  true ;  but  that 
the  community,  considered  as  one  family,  having  a  common  in- 
terest, sustains  any  injury,  is  not  true.  This  can  be  demon- 
strated by  supposing  the  case  of  a  family,  which  is  but  an  epi- 
tome of  a  larger  society.  If  it  consist  of  ten  in  number,  who, 
by  their  joint  labour,  raise  all  the  food  they  eat,  and  manufac- 
ture all  the  clothes  they  wear,  it  is  very  manifest,  that,  if  any 
labour-saving  invention  should  be  introduced  amongst  them, 
which  would  be  equal  to  the  labour  of  one  individual,  the  effect 
of  it  would  be,  either  that  the  whole  ten  would  have  a  tenth 
part  of  their  time  to  devote  to  study  or  recreation,  or  to  some 
other  pursuit,  or  that  the  labour  of  one  individual  of  the  ten 
might  be  applied  to  the  production  of  some  additional  article 
of  necessity,  or  comfort,  which  the  family  did  not  before  pos- 
sess. If,  however,  there  was  no  such  article  that  could  be 
thought  of  at  the  moment,  time  would  soon  point  out  one,  for 
human  wants  and  desires  have  no  limits,  and,  in  the  mean  time, 
it  is  very  evident,  that  the  ability  of  the  family  to  maintain  the 
whole  ten,  even  admitting  one  to  be  idle,  would  be  just  as  great 
as  it  was  before. 

The  structure  of  society  differs  somewdiat  from  that  of  a  pri- 
vate family,  though  not  so  much  as  might  at  first  sight  appear. 
In  society,  each  individual  maintains  himself,  and  does  not  call 
upon  the  other  members  for  assistance,  unless  he  is  reduced  to 
absolute  w^ant.  An  individual,  therefore,  may  suffer  very  ma- 
terially by  the  introduction  of  labour-saving  machinery,  until 
he  can  have  time  to  find  out  some  new  employment,  or  until, 
what  very  often  happens,  the  increased  demand  for  the  article, 
in  the  production  of  which  he  used  to  be  employed,  arising 
from  its  cheapness,  shall  have  restored  the  demand  for  his  la- 
bour. In  the  mean  time,  however,  it  must  be  observed,  that  the 
society  is  just  as  able  to  maintain  the  labourer  in  question,  in 
his  state  of  idleness,  as  it  was  whilst  he  was  employed,  because 
the  products  of  the  industry  of  the  whole  society  would  be  as 
great  as  they  were  before.  The  evil,  however,  could  be  but 
temporary.  Labour-saving  machinery  is  only  gradually  intro- 
duced, and  the  increased  demand  for  commodities,  so  speedily 
follows  the  reduction  of  price,  always  accompanying  the  supe- 
rior facility  of  fabrication,  that  only  a  limited  number  of  indi- 
viduals are,  at  any  one  time,  in  danger  of  being  thrown  out  of 
employment. 

In  regard  to  the  labour-saving  machine  which  forms  the 
subject  of  the  foregoing  communication,  the  effect  of  its  gene- 


40  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

ral  introduction  would  be,  that  the  work  to  which  it  is  applied 
would  be  done  in  one-sixth  part  of  the  time  originally  contem- 
plated, if  the  same  number  of  hands  should  be  kept  at  work, 
and,  at  the  expiration  of  that  time,  the  employers  would  be  in 
possession  of  a  capital  suilicient  to  employ  the  same  labourers 
upon  five  other  canals  or  rail  roads,  or,  if  they  were  not  want- 
ed, upon  some  other  species  of  work  requiring  manual  labour. 
But  to  make  this  plain,  suppose  a  canal  to  be  projected,  to  cost 
six  millions  of  dollars,  and  to  occupy  six  thousand  men  for  six 
years.  All  at  once  a  machine,  for  excavating,  loading,  trans- 
porting, and  embanking  the  earth,  is  invented,  which  will  en- 
able each  man  to  perform  the  work  which  before  required  six. 
Now,  as  the  proprietor  of  the  canal  has  every  inducement  to 
finish  his  work  with  all  possible  despatch,  in  order  to  save  the 
interest  on  his  capital  expended,  and  to  hasten  the  period  at 
which  he  should  collect  his  tolls,  he  will  naturally  keep  the 
whole  of  his  six  thousand  men  employed  for  one  year,  which 
will  be  all  the  time  that  is  requisite  for  the  completion  of  his 
work.  No  men  therefore  would  be  discharged  during  that 
term,  and  as  the  proprietor  would  have  at  his  disposal  at  the 
end  of  the  year,  five  millions  of  dollars,  he  could,  if  he  found  it 
to  be  his  interest,  undertake  new  canals,  or,  at  all  events,  some 
other  species  of  work,  requiring  the  labour  of  six  thousand 
men  ;  and  the  very  saving  of  that  capital,  brought  about  by  the 
labour-saving  invention,  may  be  looked  upon  as  a  fund  abso- 
lutely set  apart  for  the  support  of  the  same  six  thousand  men, 
or  another  equal  number  of  labourers  for  five  years.  Indeed, 
as  capital  saved  is  always  an  addition  to  the  stock,  from  which 
all  labourers  must  be  supported,  it  is  impossible  to  imagine  any 
diminution  in  the  expenses  of  producing  a  commodity,  or  even 
a  canal,  without,  at  the  same  time,  forming  the  idea  of  a  fresh 
fund,  which  will  as  certainly  be  devoted  to  the  support  of  indus- 
try of  some  kind  or  other,  as  that  it  exists. 

What  is  true  of  this  case,  is  equally  true  of  almost  all  other 
occupations  into  which  labour-saving  inventions  can  be  intro- 
duced, and  there  is  scarcely  one,  where  the  increased  demand 
for  the  commodities,  lowered  in  price  by  the  adoption  of  ma- 
chinery, has  not  kept  up  the  demand  for  an  equal  number  of  la- 
bourers. This  has  clearly  been  the  case  in  reference  to  the 
cotton  manufacture — more  people  being  now  employed  on 
it,  than  before  the  invention  of  the  modern  power-looms  and 
spindles. 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  41 


ESSAY     No.  XV. 

FEBRUARY    13,    1830. 

The  beet  sugar  manufacture  of  France.  Injurious  effects  erf 
governmental  'protection  afforded  to  it.  Comparative  con- 
sumption of  sugar  in  France  and  in  the  United  States.  Tax 
paid  by  the  consumers  of  sugar  in  the  United  States  for  the 
support  of  the  sugar  planters  of  Louisiana. 

A  FEW  months  ago,  an  article  went  the  rounds  of  the  Ame- 
rican papers,  in  the  following  words  : — 

"  The  manufacture  of  sugar  from  beets,  which  was  intro- 
duced into  France  by  Napoleon,  in  1811  and  1812,  ha«  in- 
creased to  such  an  extent,  that  there  are  now  nearly  one  hun- 
dred sugar  manufactories  in  that  country,  producing  an  annual 
amount  of  about  five  million  kilogrames,  or  five  thousand  nine 
hundred  and  twenty-one  tons.  In  Picardy  alone,  the  number 
of  manufactories  is  twenty-five.  While  the  price  of  refined 
sugar  in  Paris,  is  eleven  and  a  halfpence  sterling,  per  pound, 
the  manufacture  is  profitable.  It  is  estimated  that  one-half  of 
all  the  sugar  consumed  in  Paris,  and  one-eleventh  of  the  total 
consumed  in  France,  is  made  from  beets.  For  whiteness  and 
beauty,  it  is  said,  when  refined,  to  be  unequalled  by  any  other. 
*  Bulk  for  bulk,  however,  the  refined  West  India  sugar  is 
sweeter  than  the  refined  beet  sugar ;  but  weight  for  weight,  the 
two  are  equally  sweet.'  The  discovery  of  sugar  in  the  beet 
root,  was  made  by  the  celebrated  German  chemist.  Margrave, 
and  announced  to  the  public  in  1747." 

Many  of  those  who  copy  this  article,  do  it,  not  as  the  mere 
record  of  a  statistical  fact,  but  as  a  practical  illustration  of  the 
benefits  France  is  deriving  from  what  is  called  the  protection 
of  her  domestic  industry,  and  instead  of  its  being  held  up,  as  it 
ought  to  be,  as  a  solemn  warning  to  other  nations  not  to  follow 
the  silly  example,  it  is  no  doubt  regarded  by  many  of  our  Ame- 
rican System  philosophers  as  worthy  of  all  imitation.  The 
figures  are  no  doubt  very  imposing,  and  to  those  who  are  more 
familiar  with  a  pound  of  sugar,  than  with  kilogrames  or  tons, 
the  quantity  mentioned  may  appear  to  be  immense.  For  the 
benefit  of  such,  we  will  oflbr  a  few  remarks  upon  this  subject, 
for  the  purpose  of  presenting  it  in  its  true  light,  and  if,  after  the 
analysis  we  shall  make  of  the  celebrated  beet  sugar,  there  be 
any  one  disposed  to  think  that  France  is  a  gainer  by  the  policy 
of  Napoleon,  we  have  no  objections  that  he  should  continue  to 
enjoy  his  opinion. 

From  the  foregoing  statement,  the  following  facts  appear : 

First.  That  beet  sugar  is  produced  in  France,  to  the  ex- 
D* 


42  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

tent  of  five  million  kilogrames,  which  is  eleven  million  and 
twenty-five  thousand  pounds.* 

Secondly.  That  this  is  equal  to  one-eleventh  part  of  the  to- 
tal consumption  of  sugar  in  France. 

Thirdly.  That  the  manufacture  of  beet  sugar  is  only  profi- 
table when  the  price  of  refined  sugar  in  Paris  is  eleven  and  a 
quarter  pence  sterling  per  pound,  or  about  twenty  one  cents  of 
our  money. 

It  appears  then  from  the  foregoing  statement,  that  the  beet 
sugar  manufacture  in  France  is  a  losing  business,  unless  re- 
fined sugar  is  worth  twenty-one  cents  per  pound.  But  refined 
sugar  could  not  be  kept  up  at  twenty-one  cents,  but  by  means  of 
a  high  duty  upon  raw  sugar.  That  duty  is  about  eight  cents 
per  pound  for  brown,  and  ten  cents  for  white,  and  of  this  a 
great  portion  no  doubt  is  levied  for  the  purpose  of  protecting 
the  manufacture  of  beet  sugar.  Supposing  one  cent  only  of  this 
duty  to  be  for  the  puqwse  of  protection,  then  it  will  follow,  that, 
as  the  total  consumption  is  equal  to  eleven  times  thq  quantity 
manufactured  from  beets,  that  is,  to  one  hundred  and  twen- 
ty-one million  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand  pounds, 
the  consumers  are  annually  taxed  the  sum  of  one  million  two 
hundred  and  twelve  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty  dollars, 
for  the  purpose  of  enabhng  one  hundred  beet  sugar  makers  to 
produce  a  quantity  of  sugar  which  could  be  procured  in  the 
West  Indies  or  Brazil,  in  exchange  for  French  wines,  silks, 
and  other  productions, /or  less  than  half  the  amount  of  this  tax 
alone. 

The  statement  upon  which  we  are  commenting,  admits  that 
West  India  sugar,  pound  for  pound,  contains  as  much  sweetness 
as  the  beet  sugar,  and  as  the  former  can  be  purchased  in  the 
Antilles  for  five  cents  a  pound,  the  quantity  of  eleven  millions 
and  twenty-five  thousand  pounds,  the  quantity  manufactured, 
would  cost  but  five  hundred  and  fifty-one  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  dollars. 

From  this  view  of  the  subject,  it  may  be  seen  how  extreme- 
ly prejudicial  to  the  consumers  of  sugar  in  France,  is  the  ex- 
istence of  the  beet  sugar  manufacture,  and  the  simplest  arith- 
metical calculation  will  shew,  that  it  would  be  a  profitable  bar- 
gain for  the  people  of  France  to  raise,  by  way  of  contribution, 
a  million  of  dollars,  and  pay  it  to  the  beet  sugar  makers  as  a 
gratuity,  for  stopping  their  works,  if  they  would  consent  to 
the  abolition  of  the  duty  imposed  for  their  protection  of  one 
cent  per  pound.  If  the  quantity  of  eleven  million  and  twenty- 
five  thousand  pounds  of  sugar,  could  be  procured  abroad  for 
five  hundred  and  fifty-one  thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty  dol- 
lars, it  is  very  clear  that  the   domestic   substitute,  of  equal 

*  Fifty  kilogrames  are  equal  to  one  hundred  and  ten  and  one-quarter  pounds  avoirdu. 
pois. 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  43 

weight,  is  really  worth  no  more,  so  that  by  the  commutation 
we  suggest,  the  beet  sugar  makers  would  receive  a  much 
larger  sum  than  the  true  value  of  their  goods,  besides  being 
left  at  liberty  to  apply  their  labour  and  capital  to  any  other  oc- 
cupation, the  result  from  which  would  be  clear  national  gain. 

But  we  apprehend  that  the  mischief  which  the  French  popu- 
lation sustains  from  the  protection  of  the  beet  sugar  manufac- 
ture, is  much  greater  than  the  amount  here  assumed.  The 
part  of  the  duty  intended  for  protection,  is  probably  greater 
than  one  cent  per  pound,  and  we  are  much  mistaken  if  the  total 
consumption  of  the  country  is  not  somewhat  underrated.  By  a 
document,  published  a  few  months  ago  in  the  Baltimore  Ame- 
rican, it  appears  that  the  quantity  of  sugar  produced  in  the 
United  States  in  the  year  1828,  was  eighty-seven  thousand  nine 
hundred  and  sixty-five  hogsheads,  which,  estimating  the  hogs- 
heads upon  an  average  at  one  thousand  pounds,  would  be 
eighty-seven  millions  nine  hundred  and  sixty-five  thousand 
pounds.  The  quantity  imported  in  the  year  1827,  as  appears 
by  the  official  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  was 
fifty-five  millions  one  hundred  and  twenty-three  thousand  five 
hundred  and  fifteen  pounds,  so  that  the  total  annual  consumption 
of  the  United  States  may  be  estimated  at  least  at  one  hundred 
and  thirty-two  milUon  pounds,  or  at  eleven  pounds  per  head. 
It  can  therefore  be  hardly  probable  that  the  consumption  of 
France,  with  a  population  of  thirty  millions,  can  be  less  than 
ours,  with  a  population  of  twelve  millions. 

In  regard  to  the  protection  which  the  sugar  planters  of  Lou- 
isiana enjoy,  by  the  present  tariff,  it  is  quite  time  for  the  Ame- 
rican people  to  reflect  upon  the  amount  of  the  tax  which  is 
paid  for  the  support  of  the  domestic  production.  From  the 
statement  last  referred  to,  it  appears,  that  the  profits  of  sugar 
planting  are  sufficiently  inviting  to  have  induced  an  extended 
cultivation,  so  that,  it  is  said,  two  hundred  and  six  additional 
planters  will  send  sugar  to  market,  produced  in  1829,  who  have 
never  sent  any  before.  If,  of  the  present  duty  of  three  cents 
per  pound,  only  one  half  is  considered  as  for  protection,  it  is 
manifest  that  the  American  people  pay  for  the  one  hundred  and 
thirty-two  millions  of  pounds  they  consume,  the  sum  of  one  mil- 
lion nine  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  dollars  more  than  they 
would  be  obliged  to  pay  if  the  duty  was  reduced  to  a  revenue 
scale.  In  other  words,  they  pay  a  tax  of  that  enormous 
amount,  for  the  support  of  the  sugar  planting  interest,  and  with 
no  more  justice  than  the  French  population  does,  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  beet  sugar  manufacture.  From  information  which 
we  have  received  from  an  intelligent  source,  we  have  no  doubt 
that  sugar  planting  is  the  most  profitable  branch  of  agriculture 
now  carried  on  in  this  country,  and  we  think  it  would  be  an 
act  of  real  benefit  to  that  interest,  to  reduce  the  duty  upon  su- 


44  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

gar,  if  for  no  other  reason  than  to  prevent  that  waste  of  capital 
"which  must  uhimately  result  from  the  rushing  of  so  many  new 
undertakers  into  its  cultivation.  If  this  is  not  done  soon,  the 
nation  will  be  called  upon,  in  a  few  yjears,  to  prohibit  the  im- 
portation of  foreign  sugar,  in  order  to  save  the  sugar  planters 
from  ruin. 

It  is  proper  here  to  mention,  that  the  manufacturers  of  beet 
sugar,  in  France,  are  not  content  with  the  present  enormous 
duties,  but  have  been,  during  the  past  year,  petitioning  the  go- 
vernment for  an  increase,  as  necessary  to  sustain  them  from 
absolute  destruction.  This  is  truly  a  la  mode  of  the  American 
System,  and  is  only  another  evidence  of  the  truth,  that  hot  house 
plants  can  never,  in  the  frigid  zone,  be  rendered  capable  of  ex- 
istence, but  by  keeping  up  the  same,  or  a  greater  degree  of 
heat. 


ESSAY    No.    XVI. 

FEBRUARY   17,    1830. 


Remarks  on  an  essay  of  Puhlicola.  JVb  one  branch  of  indus- 
try can  permanently  he  more  productive  than  another. 
Want  of  employment  cannot  Jong  exist  in  the  United  States, 
whilst  vacant  lands  are  so  abundant.  Domestic  manufac- 
tures shewn  to  have  flourished  in  the  United  States  long  he- 
fore  the  protective  system  was  introduced. 

THE  period  will  some  day  arrive,  when  the  nation  will 
awake  as  from  a  dream,  from  the  delusion  under  which  she 
has  so  long  laboured,  and  when  it  will  be  hard  to  make 
people  believe,  that  such  absurdities  as  those  upon  which  the 
"  American  System"  is  founded,  could  ever  have  had  an  exist- 
ence amongst  that  class  of  persons  who  are  reputed  to  be  the 
intelligent,  and  who  are  the  influential.  So  firmly  are  we  per- 
suaded of  this,  that,  valuing  somewhat  our  labours  in  the  cause 
of  sound  doctrine,  and  not  being  disposed,  some  ten  years  hence, 
should  this  paper  then  continue  to  exist,  to  be  looked  back  upon 
as  a  combatant  of  theories  not  seriously  entertained  by  the 
community,  we  deem  it  expedient  to  bring  into  the  columns  of 
our  paper,  an  occasional  sentiment  from  some  of  the  most 
conspicuous  writers  on  the  side  of  the  question  which  w^e  op- 
pose. 

Amongst  these  writers,  is  one,  who,  under  the  signature  of 
"  Publicola,"  last  year  published  in  the  New  York  Morning 
Herald  a  series  of  essays,  "  On  the  policy  of  manufacturing 
in  this  country."     This  writer,  Hke  all  the  rest  of  his  co-la,- 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  45 

bourers,  founds  the  greater  part  of  his  arguments  upon  assump- 
tions which  are  not  admissible,  and  consequently,  whilst  he 
draws  conclusions  which  may  be  satisfactory  to  himself,  they 
cannot  be  so  to  those  who  deny  his  premises. 

Upon  this  occasion  we  will  quote  a  paragraph  or  two,  from 
his  tenth  essay,  which  our  readers  will  find  to  contain  a  speci- 
men of  the  sort  of  reasoning  so  constantly  resorted  to  to  effect 
a  perpetuity  of  the  same  miserable  policy,  as  that  under  which 
the  nation  is  now  suffering.     It  commences  thus : 

"  If  productive  labour  be  the  only  source  of  wealth,  and  ma- 
nufactures afford  the  second  best  source  of  labour,  positions 
that  will  not  be  disputed  by  any  one  capable  of  giving  them  a 
disinterested  consideration,  it  will  follow,  that  every  Mdse  go- 
Ternment,  having  a  population  sufficient  for  the  object,  will 
grant  such  protection  to  manufactures  as  will  permanently  es- 
tablish them  in  their  country." 

The  foregoing  would  pass  with  some  people  for  sound  doc- 
trine. We  shall  show  that  it  is  not  so,  and  we  deny,  in  limine, 
the  position,  that  "  manufactures  afford  the  second  best  source 
of  labour."  There  can  be  no  such  thing  as  a  permanent  superi- 
ority of  one  branch  of  business  over  another ;  for  if  capital  and 
labour,  devoted  to  agriculture,  were,  for  any  great  length  of 
time  together,  more  profitable  than  capital  and  labour  employed 
in  other  pursuits,  persons  would  leave  the  latter  pursuits,  and  fly 
to  the  former,  until  the  equilibrium  should  be  restored.  The 
idea,  therefore,  of  classifying  pursuits,  and  laying  it  down  as  an 
axiom,  that  commerce,  or  agriculture,  or  manufactures,  if  left  to 
themselves,  is  a  more  profitable  branch  of  industry  than  the 
others,  is  at  once  denying  one  of  the  fundamental  principles  of 
the  science  proposed  to  be  discussed ;  and  if  the  corner-stone 
of  the  building  be  feeble — if  it  be  neither  plumb,  square,  nor 
level,  how  can  the  superstructure  be  strong  1 — If,  however,  it 
were  true,  as  laid  down,  that  "  manufactures  afford  the  second 
best  source  of  labour,"  it  would  follow,  that  that  government 
would  act  most  wisely,  which  should  leave  the  manufacturers 
in  the  full  enjoyment  of  their  relative  advantages.  No  artificial 
stimulus  would  be  required  to  induce  those  who  followed  the 
third  best  source  of  labour,  to  abandon  it,  inasmuch  as  sufficient 
inducement  would  be  held  out,  by  the  superior  profits  of  the 
second  and  first.  We  think,  therefore,  that  the  conclusion,  in 
this  case,  is  not  one  which  would  legitimately  flow  from  the 
premises,  admitting  them  to  be  sound  ;  but  having  shewn  that 
they  are  not  sound,  it  follows  that  every  deduction  drawn  from 
them  must  be  fallacious. 

"  It  will  not  be  denied  that  we  have  at  this  moment  a  consi- 
derable surplus  population  who  cannot  find  employment.  Our 
government,  therefore,  have  no  ground  on  which  they  can  pre- 
dicate a  plea  for  lessening  the  manufactures  at  present  esta- 


46  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

blished ;  in  fact,  if  we  look  around  us,  and  note  the  increasing 
numbers  applying  in  vain  for  labour,  we  must  be  convinced 
that,  instead  of  curtailing  the  modes  of  employment  now  exist- 
ing, it  is  the  imperious  duty  of  our  government  to  open  still  fur- 
ther sources.  If  they  neglect  to  do  this,  that  portion  of  the 
population  now  daily  petitioning  for  labour  must  rapidly  in- 
crease, and  instead  of  becoming  productive  citizens,  will  rely 
solely  on  the  cold  hand  of  charity  for  relief,  thereby  draining 
the  pockets  of  their  more  successful  neighbours,  and  entaihng 
on  the  country  an  increasingly  extensive  class  of  reckless  pau- 
pers." 

The  doctrine,  that  there  are  in  the  United  States  a  vast 
number  of  persons  who  cannot  procure  employment,  has  long 
been  a  favourite  one  with  the  restrictive  party.  If  there  be 
however  any  truth  in  the  position,  they  may  thank  their  own 
policy  for  it.  Restrictive  laws  retard  the  accumulation  of  ca- 
pital, and  as  capital  is  the  only  source  of  affording  employ- 
ment to  labourers,  it  is  manifest  that  any  measure  which  di- 
minishes the  ratio  of  accumulation,  must  have  the  effect  of 
throwing  people  out  of  employment.  To  attempt  to  cure  such 
an  evil,  therefore,  by  further  restrictions,  would  only  be  making 
the  matter  worse,  as  it  has  been  made  ever  since  the  year  1816, 
and  would  be  as  silly,  as  if  the  quack,  who  had  brought  his  pa- 
tient to  death's  door  by  debility  from  bleeding,  should  insist  up- 
on it  that  the  way  to  cure  him  would  be  to  apply  the  lancet 
again. 

But,  after  all,  it  is  not  true  that  any  great  portion  of  people 
are  permanently  unemployed.  The  number  of  able-bodied 
paupers  throughout  the  United  States  has  not  sensibly  increas- 
ed. In  large  commercial  cities,  such  for  example  as  New 
York,  there  may  be  much  temporary  distress  from  the  want  of 
employment,  because  the  population  of  those  cities,  being  driven 
from  their  accustomed  vocations  by  the  anti-commercial  poKey, 
have  not  yet  had  time  to  fall  into  new  pursuits.  But  we  main- 
tain that  such  a  thing  as  a  permanent  want  of  employment,  in 
a  country  where  there  are  tens  of  millions  of  acres  of  fertile 
land,  to  be  had  for  a  dollar  and  a  quarter  an  acre,  cannot  exist. 
This  is  a  conclusive  argument  on  the  subject,  and  we  will  ven- 
ture to  affirm,  that  there  is  not  a  miserable  weaver  in  Spital- 
fields  who  would  not  consider  himself  as  independent  as  a 
prince,  if  he  could  be  transported  to  such  a  country.  Agricul- 
ture, it  may  be  said,  will  be  overdone.  We  answer,  plenty  of 
bread  and  meat,  plenty  of  warm  clothes,  plenty  of  fuel,  and 
plenty  of  log  houses,  can  never  be  overdone ;  and  if  a  man 
cannot  secure  these  by  working  with  the  spindle  or  the  loom, 
he  can  never  fail  to  secure  them  with  the  axe,  the  spade  and 
the  plough. 

"  To  establish  manufactures  in  any  country  not  before  pes- 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  47 

sessing  them,  it  is  necessary  they  should  be,  during  their  infancy, 
supported  by  high  protective  duties — duties  at  least  equivalent 
to  the  difference  in  the  value  of  labour,  price  of  raw  material, 
deficiency  of  capital,  and  want  of  skill.  Without  such  protec- 
tive duties,  no  new  country  can  ever  enter  into  competition  with 
another  where  manufactures  have  been  long  established.  It  is 
folly  to  talk  of  a  middle  course ;  a  protection  fully  equal  to  the 
difference  must  be  granted,  or  our  manufactures  must  decline, 
till  the  reduction  in  wages  and  raw  material  enable  those  en- 
gaged in  them  to  resume  operations." 

To  lay  down  what  rules  would  be  necessary  for  the  intro- 
duction of  manufactures  into  a  country  where  there  were  none 
before,  would  hardly  seem  to  be  necessary  in  a  code  of  laws 
intended  for  this  country,  where  manufactures  not  only  exist, 
but  where  they  have  existed  since  the  first  settlement  of  the  co- 
lonies, to  an  extent  adequate  to  furnish  nine-tsnths  of  all  the 
manufactured  commodities  consumed  by  the  nation.  Accord- 
ing to  Seybert's  Statistics,  page  8,  it  appears  that  the  amount 
of  articles  manufactured  in  the  United  States  in  the  year  1810, 
was  one  hundred  and  ninety-eight  million  six  hundred  and 
thirteen  thousand  four  hundred  and  seventy-one  dollars.  Our 
population,  at  that  time,  was  seven  million  two  hundred  and 
thirty  thousand  nine  hundred  and  three  souls,  and  the  "  Ame- 
rican System"  had  not  yet  begun  to  -protect  the  industry  of  the 
country,  and  can  therefore  lay  no  claim  to  an  agency  in  estab- 
lishing manufactures  before  that  period.  T!h.\s,fact  ought  of 
itself  to  overturn  the  theory  of  this  writer,  and  would  be  con- 
clusive on  the  subject,  if  facts  were  allowed  to  weigh  with 
those  who  are  under  the  influence  of  the  delusion  to  which  we 
have  above  adverted. 


ESSAY     No.   X  V  1 1. 


FEBRUARY    17,    1830. 


One  fact  is  worth  a  thousand  theories.  Fallacy  conveyed  by 
this  phrase,  employed  in  reference  to  the  mamtfacture  of 
carpets. 

IN  the  tariff"  newspapers  one  is  perpetually  saluted  with  this 
dogma,  and  it  is  really  amusing  to  see,  sometimes,  how  per- 
lectly  farcical  is  its  application.  The  following  is  an  exam- 
ple, which  some  time  ago  went  the  rounds,  without  note  or 
comment : — 

From  the  Virginia  Free  Press. 

"  One  fact  is  worth  a  thousand  theories. — A  gentleman  of 
Martinsburgh  gave  us  a  striking  instance  in  proof,  that  the 


48  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

American  System  only  requires  a  fair  test,  and  a  reasonable 
perseverance,  to  render  it  triumphantly  successful.  He  informs 
us  that  he  saw  the  other  day,  a  large  box  of  cloths,  manufac- 
tured in  the  factory  of  Messrs.  Gibbs  &  Orrick,  directed  to 
Baltimore.  Upon  inquiry  into  the  strange  occurrence,  he  was 
informed  that  the  company  find  in  that  city  a  ready  market 
for  a  large  portion  of  their  products,  which  are  of  most  excel- 
lent quality.  Mr.  G.  C.  Crondatt's  carpet  manufactory,  in  that 
town,  produces  carpeting  of  a  quality  and  pattern  fully  equal 
to  the  best  Scotch  fabrics.  Success  to  the  cause  of  home  in- 
dustry, and  to  its  great  patron  and  generous  supporters !" 

Now  we  should  like  the  editor  of  the  Free  Press  to  tell  us 
what  fact,  worth  a  thousand  theories,  is  supposed  to  be  estab- 
lished by  the  circumstance  herein  stated,  viz :  that  a  large  box 
of  cloths,  manufactured  by  Messrs.  Gibbs  &  Orrick,  was  seen 
directed  to  Baltimore ;  and  that  "  upon  inquiry  into  the  strange 
occurrence,"  it  was  ascertained  that  that  company  find  in  Bal- 
timore a  ready  market  for  a  large  portion  of  their  products  ? 
Is  it  pointed  out  as  an  object  for  exultation,  that  a  manufactur- 
er of  cloth,  with  a  protecting  duty  of  from  50  to  225  per  cent,  in 
his  fav^our,  is  enabled  to  carry  on  a  profitable  business  1  Nobody 
ever  doubted  that  manufacturers  would  thrive,  if  those  who 
carried  them  on  were  authorised  by  law  to  take  out  of  the 
pockets  of  those  who  consumed  them,  an  amount  equal  to  what 
they  would  otherwise  have  lost,  and  a  large  profit  to  boot. 
Suppose  Mr.  Pratt,  of  Philadelphia,  should  procure  a  law  to 
prohibit  totally  the  importation  of  tea,  upon  the  principle,  that, 
in  his  hot  house,  he  could  raise  tea  for  ten  dollars  a  }X)und,  a 
price  which  some  people  could  afford  to  give,  what  would  be 
thought  of  an  editor  who  should  cry  out,  "  Success  to  the  cause 
of  home  industry,  and  to  its  great  patron  and  generous  support- 
ers V  Would  not  such  an  editor  be  looked  upon  as  very  little 
removed  from  the  degree  of  a  wiseacre  1  We  think  he  would, 
and  we  do  really  wish,  that  those  who  bring  forward  facts  in 
opposition  to  theories,  would  take  the  trouble  to  state  what  are 
the  facts  they  mean  to  substantiate.  It  may  be  very  true,  that 
Mr.  Crondatt's  manufactory  "  produces  cai'peting  of  a  quality 
and  pattern  fully  equal  to  the  best  Scotch  fabrics."  But  who 
would  thank  any  man  for  doing  this,  with  a  protecting  duty  in 
his  favour  of  70  cents  per  square  yard  for  Brussels,  Turkey  and 
Wilton,  and  40  cents  for  Ingrain,  Kidderminster  and  Venetian, 
when  the  retail  prices  in  London,  as  we  have  shewn  at  page  156 
of  the  Free  Trade  Advocate,  vol.  2,  are  only  for  Brussels  from 
68  to  108  cents  per  square  yard,  Kidderminster  48  to  84  cents, 
and  Venetian  48  to  56  cents  ?  If  the  fact  intended  to  be  estab- 
lished in  the  article  quoted  be,  that  Messrs.  Gibbs  &  Orrick, 
and  Mr.  Crondatt,  of  the  town  of  Martinsburgh,  are  growing 
rich  in  consequence  of  being  authorised  to  tax  all  the  purcha- 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  40 

sers  of  cloth  and  carpets,  who  deal  with  them,  a  sum  equal  to 
the  difference  between  their  prices  and  the  prices  at  which  si- 
milar articles  could  be  imported,  no  one  will  dispute  it ;  but  we 
doubt  very  much  whether  such  a  fact  is  worth  a  thousand  the- 
ories— such  as  this,  for  example,  that  cheap  cloths  and  cheap 
carpets  are  better  than  dear  ones  of  the  same  quality.  If  the 
fact,  so  joyfully  announced,  had  been  that  cloth  and  cai-pets 
could  be  manufactured  at  Martinsburgh,  at  prices  so  low  as  not 
to  retjuire  more  than  a  mere  revenue  duty  to  sustain  tiiein,  then 
we  would  have  agreed  with  the  editor  of  the  Free  Press,  that 
such  a  fact  was  worth  a  thousand  theories,  for  such  a  fact 
would  prove,  by  its  very  existence,  that  high  duties  would  be 
unnecessar}^  for  such  manufactures. 


ESSAY    No.    XVIII. 


FEBRUARY    20,    1830. 


PlausihiUty  of  the  terms  "  Domestic  Industry^'  and  "  American 
System."  The  consumption  of  foreign  products  affords  em- 
ployment to  American  industry  as  much  as  the  consumption 
of  domestic  products.  This  proved,  by  a  co?nparison  of  the 
two  modes  of  converting  rain  cotton  into  fabrics,  the  commer- 
cial process,  and  the  manufacturing  process. 

THERE  is  something  so  captivating  in  the  term  "  Domestic 
Industry,"  and  something  so  patriotic  in  the  term  "  American 
System,"  that  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  that  the  party  which 
first  seized  upon  those  expressions  as  watch  words,  should  have 
succeeded  with  the  mass  of  the  people,  and  have  carried  their 
point  by  a  coup  de  main.  The  time  once  was,  when,  by  "  do- 
mestic industry"  was  meant  the  industry  of  the  farmer,  the 
planter,  the  miller,  the  mariner,  the  merchant,  the  mechanic, 
the  tradesman,  the  day  labourer,  the  artizan,  and,  in  fine,  all 
the  various  individuals,  who  by  their  industry  contributed  to 
advance  the  wealth  of  the  nation  and  the  prosperity  of  the  people. 
At  the  present  day  it  signifies  very  little  more  than  the  indus- 
try of  the  very  few  persons  who  are  employed  in  the  spinning 
and  weaving  of  cotton  and  wool,  and  who  do  not  comprise 
more  than  one  in  every  one  hundred  of  the  whole  population. 
In  vain  is  it  urged  upon  the  champions  of  the  "  American  Sys- 
tem," that  foreign  commodities  can  only  be  procured  in  ex- 
change for  domestic  commodities,  and  that  domestic  commo- 
dities can  only  be  produced  by  the  employment  of  domestic  in- 
dustry. They  will  not  believe  that  the  industry  of  Pennsylva- 
nia, which  is  employed  in  the  raising  of  wheat,  pork,  butter, 
E 


50  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

lard,  beef,  whiskey,  corn,  hams,  Hnseed  oil,  wagons,  carts,  car- 
riages, harness,  saddlery,  hats,  boots,  shoes,  books,  stationary, 
and  a  hundred  other  articles,  and  which  are  exchanged  with 
the  cotton,  rice,  and  tobacco  growers  of  the  South,  for  bills  on 
Great  Britain,  with  which  she  pays  for  the  manufactures  she 
imports  from  that  country,  is  domestic  industry ;  for,  if  they 
did  so  believe,  they  would  never  repeat,  so  steadily,  the  explo- 
ded argument,  that  to  import  foreign  fabrics  is  to  be  tributary 
to  foreign  industry. 

When  we  reflect  upon  the  tenacity  with  which  this  doctrine 
is  adhered  to,  contrary  to  the  clearest  demonstration,  for  its 
falsity  is  as  self  evident  as  that  two  and  two  are  four,  we  are 
almost  tempted  to  regard  as  hopeless  all  expectations  of  see- 
ing the  public  mind  enlightened  upon  this  important  subject. 
When  we  hear  men,  some  of  them  too  the  most  conspicuous 
politicians  of  the  country,  pronounce  with  great  earnestness 
their  conviction,  that  to  import  foreign  fabrics  is  paying  foreign 
tribute — that  the  American  cotton  manufacturers  enter  into 
successful  competition  with  the  British  in  foreign  markets, 
when  they  are  not  able  to  do  it  in  the  home  market,  without  a 
protection  of  from  25  to  175  per  cent. — that  experience  shews 
that  the  effects  of  high  duties  are  to  reduce  the  prices  of  commo- 
dities below  what  they  would  be  without  them — that  high  duties 
instead  of  diminishing  commerce,  increase  it — that  the  way  for 
a  nation  to  grow  rich,  is  to  refuse  to  purchase  the  products  of 
other  nations,  and  thereby  to  diminish  the  extent  of  the  sales  of 
her  own  products ; — when,  we  say,  we  hear  such  doctrines  as 
these,  advanced  as  the  doctrines  of  sound  political  economy, 
we  are  persuaded  that,  in  order  to  produce  a  change  of  opinion, 
reason  is  not  the  faculty  of  the  mind  which  is  to  be  addressed. 
As  well  might  a  teacher  of  mathematics  attempt  to  instruct  in 
the  principles  of  that  science  a  scholar,  who,  at  the  threshold, 
should  refuse  to  admit  that  two  parallel  lines  can  never  meet, 
or  that  any  two  sides  of  a  triangle  are  greater  than  the  third. 
The  powerful  reasoning  of  Adam  Smith,  the  clear  demonstra- 
tions of  Say,  and  the  forcible  and  able  expositions  of  McCul- 
loch,  would  have  no  more  influence  in  effecting  a  change  of  the 
views  of  some  we  could  name,  than  if  they  were  the  wild  and 
silly  effusions  of  ignorant  declaimers. 

There  must,  however,  be  some  individuals,  whose  rational  fa- 
culties have  not  been  distorted  so  as  to  prevent  them  from  per- 
ceiving a  truth,  and  to  such  we  address  ihe  following  illustra- 
tion of  the  position  which  we  have  already  more  than  once  ad- 
vanced— That  the  importation  of  foreign  fabrics  is  nothing  more 
than  a  mode  of  production,  which  gives  employment  to  domes- 
tic industry,  in  the  same  manner,  precisely,  that  manufacturing 
does. 

Let  us  suppose  two  individuals,  each  possessing  a  capital  of 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  51 

thirty  thousand  dollars,  and  each  resolved  to  direct  his  industry 
towards  the  same  object,  the  production  of  cotton  fabrics. — The 
one  proposes  to  produce  them  by  manufacturing  industry,  the 
other  by  commercial  industry.  The  one  expends  one-third  of 
his  capital  in  building  a  factory  and  machinery,  and  the  residue 
in  the  purchase  of  raw  cotton,  and  in  the  payment  of  the  wages 
of  spinners  and  weavers.  The  other  expends  one-third  of  his 
capital  in  building  a  ship,  and  the  other  two-thirds  in  the  pur- 
chase of  raw  cotton  to  be  shipped  to  Great  Britain,  and  in  the 
payment  of  the  wages  of  the  crew  of  his  vessel.  By  these  ex- 
penditures each  one  will  have  contributed  towards  the  support 
of  domestic  industry.  The  one  will  have  employed  carpenters, 
brick-layers,  machine-makers,  smiths,  lumber  and  iron  dealers, 
to  the  amount  of  ten  thousand  dollars.  The  other  will  have 
employed  ship-carpenters,  riggers,  sail-makers,  mast-makers, 
boat-builders,  rope-makers,  plumbers,  painters,  caulkers,  timber 
and  iron  dealers,  and  v^arious  others,  to  an  equal  amount.  The 
one  will  have  employed  a  number  of  spinners  and  weavers. 
The  other  will  have  employed  a  number  of  sailors,  and  each, 
it  will  be  observed,  employs  the  same  amount  of  capital.  Now, 
whether  the  actual  number  of  individuals  employed  in  the  two  dif- 
ferent modes  of  production,  be  greater  in  the  manufacturing  pro- 
cess, or  in  the  commercial  process,  is  of  no  sort  of  consequence. 
The  simple  question  which  presents  itself  is,  whether  or  not  the 
cotton  fabrics,  which  are  imported  in  exchange  for  the  raw  cot- 
ton exported,  are  not  as  much  the  representative  of  American 
industry,  value  for  value,  as  the  cotton  fabrics  made  at  home  ; 
and,  if  so,  must  not  that  mode  of  production,  whether  it  be  the 
manufacturing  or  the  commercial  one,  which  produces  the 
greatest  number  of  yards  of  cotton  cloth,  of  the  same  quality, 
be  the  most  profitable  one  for  the  nation  to  pursue  ?  To  an- 
sw^er  this  question  in  the  negative,  would  be  the  same  thing  as 
to  say,  that  cheapness  in  purchasing,  which  is  the  end  and  aim 
of  all  the  efforts  now  making  by  science  and  philosophy,  in  all 
the  branches  of  industry  all  over  the  world,  is  not  to  be  prefer- 
red to  dearness — which  is  too  absurd  to  be  worth  a  serious  re- 
futation. 


52  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 


ESSAY   No.   XIX. 

FEBRUARY  24,    1830. 

Absurdity  of  restrictions  upon  industry,  and  the  employment  of 
capital,  shewn  in  an  ironical  petition  from  the  cultivators  of 
grapes. 

PETITION. 

To  the  Honourable  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of 
the  United  States. 

The  petition  of  the  subscribers  respectfully  represents : 

THAT  your  petitioners  are  about  to  enter  largely  into  the 
cultivation  of  the  grape,  with  the  laudable  and  patriotic  design 
of  assisting  to  render  this  country  independent  of  foreign  coun- 
tries, for  its  supply  of  w^ine ;  but  that  your  petitioners  find  ob- 
structions in  the  w^ay  of  their  enterprise,  which  nothing  but  the 
fostering  and  protecting  hand  of  Congress  can  enable  them  to 
surmount :  These  obstructions  your  petitioners  will  take  the 
liberty  briefly  to  enumerate : 

In  the  first  place,  the  soil  and  climate  of  this  country  are  not 
well  adapted  for  the  grape,  and  consequently  the  product  of  a 
vineyard  must  be  comparatively  small,  when  compared  with 
that  of  one  of  similar  extent  in  France,  Spain,  Portugal,  Tene- 
rilfe,  or  Madeira. 

In  the  second  place,  labour  in  the  United  States  is  compara- 
tively higher  than  it  is  in  the  wine  producing  countries  of  Eu- 
rope, owing  to  the  facility  which  exists  here  of  procuring  land 
of  first  rate  quality,  adapted  to  the  growing  of  wheat  and  corn, 
and  almost  every  other  species  of  agricultural  product,  at  one 
dollar  and  a  quarter  per  acre,  which  operates  decidedly  to  the 
disadvantage  of  the  homeproducer  of  wine,  and,  in  conjunction 
with  the  cause  first  named,  enables  the  foreigner  to  undersell 
him  in  the  home  market. 

Your  petitioners  have  carefully  studied  the  writings  of 
Messrs.  Niles  and  Carey,  and  the  speeches  of  Messrs.  Clay, 
Burgess,  Lockwood,  and  others,  in  favour  of  the  "  American 
System,"  and  have  been  clearly  convinced,  that  nothing  is  so 
well  calculated  to  increase  the  wealth  of  a  nation,  as  impo- 
sing restrictions  upon  the  industry  of  the  people.  It  appears 
to  your  petitioners,  as  has  been  clearly  shewn  in  some  of  the 
writings  and  speeches  referred  to,  that  the  great  end  and  ob- 
ject of  this  government  is  to  organize  the  whole  labor  of  the 
people,  and  to  put  into  activity  as  much  American  industry  as 
possible.  Your  petitioners  could  demonstrate,  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  your  honourable  bodies,  that,  to  produce  a  pipe  of  wine 
in  this  country,  would  require  the  labour  of  five  times  as  many 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  53 

people  as  would  be  required  to  produce  a  similar  quantity  in 
France,  and  hence  the  nation  would  be  greatly  benefited  by 
affording  the  protection  which  your  petitioners  solicit,  which 
is  merely  to  prohibit  the  importation  of  claret,  port,  Madeira 
and  other  wines,  which  can  enter  into  competition  with  the 
home  producer,  who  will  thereby  be  put  into  possession  of 
the  home  market,  which  is  his  natural  and  unalienable  right.        — , 

Your  petitioners  are  aware,  that  there  exists  in  the  communi-  j 
ty  a  class  of  persons,  who  are  operated  upon  by  the  most  inve- 
terate prejudices,  and  who  persist  in  declaring,  that  the  wine 
produced  in  this  country  is  not  as  good  as  that  which  is  im- 
ported from  France,  Portugal,  Spain,  and  Madeira.  This  your 
petitioners  conceive  as  a  prejudice,  founded  in  a  predilection 
for  foreign  luxuries,  and  we  can  consider  no  man  as  entitled 
to  the  appellation  of  patriot,  who  does  not  consider  the  pro- 
ducts of  his  own  country  to  be  better  than  those  of  foreign 
growth.  The  case  is  the  same  in  reference  to  whiskey  and 
French  brandy.  Whilst  the  former  can  be  had  in  oceans,  at 
twenty-five  cents  per  gallon,  there  are  persons,  so  destitute  of 
the  love  of  country,  that  they  basely  consent  to  give  a  dollar 
and  a  half  a  gallon  for  liquor  which  is  not  half  so  good.  Your 
petitioners  are  clearly  of  opinion,  that  laws  should  be  made  to 
regulate  the  public  taste,  and  that  those  who  will  not  conform, 
in  their  fancies  and  appetites,  to  the  consumption  of  those  arti- 
cles which  can  be  produced  at  home,  even  at  double  the  ex- 
pense at  which  rival  articles  can  be  imported,  should  be  made 
to  do  without  either. 

In  regard  to  the  ability  of  your  petitioners  to  supply  the  home 
demand,  there  exists  amongst  them  not  a  shadow  of  doubt. 
All  that  is  wanted  is  full  and  ample  protection,  for  it  can  readily 
be  seen  that  a  resort  to  hot  houses  can  easily  be  had  for  those 
species  of  grapes  to  which  our  climate  is  not  congenial.  As  to 
an  increase  of  price,  which  would  be  apprehended  from  an  act 
of  prohibition,  your  petitioners  regard  it  as  a  bug-bear.  Have 
we  not  seen  that  high  duties  bring  down  prices  instead  of  rais- 
ing them  ?  Look  at  cotton  and  woollen  goods,  and  see  the  bless- 
ings which  the  nation  enjoys  from  the  tariff.  But  even  if  a 
similar  effect  should  not  follow  a  prohibition  of  foreign  wines, 
your  petitioners  consider  that  a  rise  in  price  would  be  highly 
advantageous  to  the  country.  By  doubling  the  price  of  wine, 
you  double  the  wealth  of  the  community,  as  relates  to  that  par- 
ticular article,  and  it  is  now  becoming  universally  received  as 
a  sound  principle  in  political  economy,  that  the  dearer  an  article 
is,  the  better  it  is  for  the  consumer. 

With  these  views,  which  will,  we  trust,  be  found  to  be  in 
perfect  harmony  with  the  orthodox  tenets  of  the  "  American 
System,"  we  submit  the  matter  to  the  wisdom  of  the  legisla- 
ture ;  and  if  a  provision  could  be  inserted  in  the  law,  to  pre- 
E* 


54  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

vent  all  others  from  raising  grapes,  it  might  perhaps  obviate  the 
necessity  of  our  applying  at  a  future  day  for  a  bounty  to  en- 
able us  to  carry  on  our  labours.  And  your  petitioners,  as  in 
duty  bound,  will  ever  pray. 


ESSAY     No.  XX. 

FEBRUARY   27,   1830. 


Progress  of  improvements,  especially  in  labour-saving  machi- 
nery. The  United  States  deprived  of  a  participation  in  these 
improvements  hy  restrictive  laics.  Nations  that  will  not  huyt 
cannot  sell.  Commerce  an  exchange  of  equivalents,  illus- 
trated hy  transactions  between  individuals. 

THE  rapid  march  of  science,  skill  and  enterprise,  which  has 
characterised  the  present  century,  is  as  unparalleled  in  history, 
as  it  is  calculated  to  excite  our  amazement.  Time  and  space 
seem  to  be  gradually  disappearing  before  the  energetic  and  in- 
ventive powers  of  man.  A  sea- voyage,  which  formerly  re- 
quired three  months,  is  now  performed  in  as  many  weeks.  By 
the  aid  of  turnpike  roads  and  steamboats,  a  journey,  which  a 
few  years  ago  was  performed  with  difficulty  in  seven  days, 
may  now  be  performed  in  two  or  three,  and  after  the  introduc- 
tion of  rail  roads  and  steam  carriages,  we  may  reasonably  ex- 
pect to  see  the  present  velocity  more  than  doubled.  With  all 
this  improvement  too,  there  is  introduced  along  with  it  a  dimi- 
nution in  the  expense  of  transporting  commodities,  by  which 
articles  intended  to  supply  the  necessities,  the  comforts  or  the 
luxuries  of  life,  are  brought  to  the  door  of  every  individual  upon 
much  more  economical  terms  than  before. 

Ingenuity  and  enterprise,  however,  are  not  confined  to  the 
mere  facilities  of  locomotion.  They  are  extended  to  the  ope- 
rations of  agriculture  and  manufactures ;  and  not  a  year  passes 
without  the  introduction,  into  both  of  these  pursuits,  of  some  la- 
bour-saving invention,  which  occasions  a  reduction  in  the  cost 
of  the  articles  to  which  it  is  applied.  It  is,  however,  more  par- 
ticularly in  manufactures,  that  are  visible  the  mighty  results 
which  have  been  the  astonishment  of  the  present  day.  When 
we  compare  the  slow  and  tedious  process  of  the  distaff,  follow 
it  up  to  the  common  spinning-wheel,  and  then  examine  the  al 
most  incredible  rapidity  with  which  spinning  is  performed,  by 
the  most  improved  machinery  now  in  operation ;  and  when  we 
compare  the  facility  and  ease  and  expedition  with  which  the 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  55 

power  loom  can  convert  yarn  into  cloth  with  the  laborious 
movement  of  the  common  loom  of  former  days,  we  need  not  be 
surprised  at  the  great  reduction  which  has  been  made  in  the 
prices  of  cotton  and  woollen  fabrics.  An  article  which  used  to 
cost  for  the  weaving,  perhaps  fifty  cents,  can  now  be  had  for 
ten,  and  there  are  even  some  manufactures,  the  price  of  which, 
including  materials  and  all,  is  less  than  half  the  former  cost  of 
making  alone. 

Unfortunately,  however,  the  people  of  the  United  Slates  are 
deprived,  by  the  laws  of  the  country,  from  participating  in  some 
of  the  benefits  which  have  resulted  to  the  world  from  the  great 
improvements  to  which  we  have  referred.  As  if  desirous  to 
remain  in  a  stationary  condition,  and  to  spurn  the  blessings 
which  other  nations  are  ready  to  confer  upon  us,  we  build  up 
walls  around  the  Republic  and  prohibit  them  from  entering. 
To  the  nation  which  says,  "  We  will  give  you  two  yards  of 
clothing,  at  the  same  price  which  it  will  cost  you  to  make  one, 
and  will  take  in  exchange  for  them  some  one  or  more  of  the 
numerous  products  of  agriculture  with  which  your  country 
abounds,"  we  reply,  that,  "  Although  we  think  it  right  that  we 
should  exercise  the  privilege  of  buying  of  you  only  those  com- 
modities which  suit  us  best,  yet  we  are  not  disposed  to  grant 
you  the  same  indulgence.  If  you  will  not  give  us  eight  dollars 
a  barrel  for  flour,  which  you  can  purchase  from  your  Euro- 
pean neighbours  at  six,  we  will  take  our  revenge  by  refusing  to 
sell  you  cotton  at  a  higher  price  than  we  can  get  from  others." 
Can  any  thing  be  more  absurd  than  such  a  system  of  reasoning  ? 

But  how,  it  may  be  asked,  do  we  refuse  to  sell  cotton  to 
Great  Britain  ?  We  answer,  by  refusing  to  buy  her  manufac- 
tures. Nations  which  cannot  sell,  cannot  buy,  and  nations  that 
will  not  buy,  cannot  sell.  Cause  and  effect  are  not  more  inse- 
parable, than  the  acts  of  buying  and  selling,  amongst  nations. 
Any  one  may  see,  that  a  nation  which  could  sell  nothing,  could 
buy  nothing ;  and  if  this  position  be  true  in  the  whole,  it  must 
be  true  in  part.  Every  increase  of  duty,  therefore,  which  ex- 
cludes a  million  of  foreign  commodities,  deprives  the  nation  of 
the  power  of  exporting  a  million  of  domestic  products  ;  for  for- 
eign commerce,  being  nothing  but  the  simple  operation  of  ex- 
changing one  thing  for  a  another  of  equal  value  at  the  place 
where  the  exchange  is  made,  no  exchange  can  take  place  un- 
less the  parties  mutually  consent  to  take  from  each  other.  Of 
the  truth  of  this  principle  every  day  affords  ample  illustration 
in  the  pursuits  of  individual  life.  The  farmer  we  will  suppose 
to  say  to  the  hatter  and  the  shoemaker,  "  Henceforth  I  intend 
to  make  my  own  hats  and  shoes,  and  as  you  cannot  live  with- 
out provisions,  you  will  be  obliged  to  buy  of  me  with  money." 
The  hatter  and  shoemaker  reply,  "  All  the  money  we  receive 
in  the  wav  of  our  business,  we  have  other  calls  for,  and  if, 


56 


ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 


therefore,  you  will  not  take  our  hats  and  shoes,  which  are  the 
only  things  we  have  to  give,  w^e  must  try  to  find  out  some 
other  fanner  who  will  trade  with  us,  and  if  we  cannot  do  that, 
we  shall  be  obliged  to  raise  the  provisions  which  we  used  to 
get  from  you  in  our  own  gardens  and  fields.  In  such  case  you 
will  perceive,  that  neither  you,  nor  we,  will  be  as  well  oft"  as 
when  we  used  to  exchange  the  articles  which  ?/e  could  make 
to  the  best  advantage,  for  those  which  you  could  make  to  the 
best  advantage ;  and  we  therefore  caution  you  against  a  pro- 
ceeding by  which  you  cannot  gain,  and  which  will  injure  your- 
self as  much  as  it  will  injure  us."  Wherever  you  travel  through 
the  country,  you  hear  this  question — "  Will  you  trade  ?"  Now 
what  is  this,  but  an  admission  of  the  principle,  that  if  you  will 
not  buy  of  me,  I  cannot  buy  of  you  1 


ESSAY    No.    XXI. 

MARCH    3,   1830. 


Desponding  tone  of  the  Southern  papers  as  to  the  prospect  he- 
fore  us.  Apathy  of  the  merchants  beginning  to  wear  off. 
Symptom  of  a  change  of  public  opinion  beginning  to  appear. 

WE  are  sorry  to  observe  the  desponding  tone  which  has 
lately  appeared  in  several  of  our  Southern  and  South-western 
papers,  in  relation  to  a  modification  of  the  tariff";  for  although 
we  cannot  but  admit  that  present  indications  are  far  from  be- 
ing favourable  to  the  expectation  of  a  repeal  during  the  present 
session  of  Congress,  yet  we  feel  a  strong  persuasion  that  ano- 
ther year  will  alter  the  face  of  things.  At  the  present  moment 
there  are  several  elements  working  towards  the  accomplish- 
ment of  that  desirable  object.  One  is,  that  the  apprehension  of 
the  establishment  in  the  United  States  of  the  Holy  Inquisition, 
in  conformity  with  the  principles  of  the  bill  recently  reported 
by  the  Committee  on  Manufactures,  has  infused  a  little  life  into 
the  dry  bones  of  the  merchants  of  the  Northern  cities,  and 
aroused  them  from  the  lethargy  and  indifference  to  their  rights 
which  they  have  displayed  ever  since  the  passage  of  the  tariff" 
act  of  1828,  and  which  has  been  carried  to  such  an  extent,  that, 
with  the  meekness  of  sheep  led  to  the  slaughter,  they  have  sub- 
mitted to  their  fate  without  so  much  as  a  murmur.  A  few 
symptoms  of  revival  have  just  now  begun  to  appear.  We  our- 
selves have  seen  the  necessity  so  urgent  of  a  co-operation  on 
the  part  of  the  mercantile  interest  of  the  North  with  the  agri- 
cultural interests  of  the  South,  that  not  content  with  the  argu- 
ments employed  in  our  editorial  columns,  we  have  resorted  to 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  57 

Other  means  of  operation.  Overlooking  the  fact  that,  since  the 
establishment  of  om*  journal  at  Washington,  our  list  of  sub- 
scribers in  the  four  commercial  cities  of  Boston,  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore,  instead  of  increasing,  has  dimi- 
nished so  greatly  as  not  to  leave  us  in  the  whole  two  hundred 
and  fifty  who  have  considered  the  unfurling  of  our  "  Banner" 
in  the  cause  of  free  trade,  as  worthy  of  their  patronage,  we 
have  written  private  letters  to  a  few  spirited  individuals,  urging 
them  to  employ  their  exertions  in  getting  up,  if  possible,  some 
expressijon  of  public  opinion,  by  which  their  fellow-labourers  in 
the  cause  of  the  country  at  the  South,  should  not  have  reason 
to  apprehend,  as  many  of  them  do,  that  they  have  all  deserted 
the  standard  of  freedom  and  gone  over  to  the  enemy.  The  in- 
dications are  favourable,  but  we  cannot  say  sufficiently  so  to 
remove  from  our  minds  the  apprehension  that  the  inquisition 
bill  may  yet  become  a  law  ;  and  we  will  take  this  occasion  to 
remark  to  our  commercial  friends,  that  unless  some  strong  re- 
monstrances be  presented,  and  that  without  delay,  there  are 
grounds  for  fearing  that  their  worst  apprehensions  will  be  re- 
alised. They  cannot  expect  their  friends  who  are  less  inte- 
rested, to  make  more  active  exertions  than  themselves- 

A  second  cause  which  is  operating  in  our  favour,  is  the  ruin 
and  devastation  now  stalking  over  the  face  of  the  country,  and 
which  are  visiting  the  same  misery  upon  tens  of  thousands  of 
deluded  individuals,  which  the  banking  system,  another  offspring 
of  legislative  folly,  spread  over  the  land  some  twelve  years 
ago.  The  wool  growers  and  wool  manufacturers  are  every 
where  suffering  from  the  excess  of  competition,  and  nothing 
prevents  an  immediate  wide-spread  bankruptcy  but  the  hopes 
that  some  miracle  will  be  wrought  to  save  them  from  total  de- 
struction. A  third  cause,  and  one  more  powerful  than  either 
of  the  others,  and  which  in  fact  is  the  chief  occasion  of  the  low 
price  of  goods,  is  smugghng,  which,  by  degrees,  is  undermining 
the  morals  of  the  nation,  and  which  at  no  distant  day  is  to  ac- 
complish the  total  annihilation  of  all  the  unnatural  cotton  and 
woollen  manufacturing  establishments  in  the  country.  Smug- 
gling is  destined  to  accomplish,  what  reason  and  a  sense  of  jus- 
tice have  thus  far  failed  to  do ;  and  although  we  most  deeply 
deplore  that  good  is  to  be  wrought  by  the  agency  of  such  im- 
proper means,  yet  there  is  one  consolation  left  us,  which  is,  that 
the  advocates  of  the  American  System  will  have  nobody  to 
blame  but  themselves  for  the  consequences. 


58  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 


ESSAY     No.  XXII. 

MARCH  3,  1830. 

Design  of  Rail  roads  and  canals.     Their  advantages.     The 
protective  policy  incompatible  with  Internal  Improvements. 

THE  great  object  of  rail  roads  and  canals,  is  to  cheapen  the 
transportation  of  commodities,  especially  of  the  kinds  which 
comprise  little  value  in  a  large  bulk.  Hence  they  may  be  im- 
mensely important  to  cities  and  populous  towns,  in  reducing  the 
prices  of  wood,  lumber,  coal,  lime,  hay,  corn,  flour,  and  nume- 
rous other  articles  produced  from  the  land.  They  are  also  im- 
portant to  the  country,  by  enabling  distant  farmers  to  transport 
to  market,  produce,  which  before  was  unsaleable,  on  account 
of  the  heavy  expense  of  land  carriage,  and  to  receive  from  the 
seaports,  iron,  salt,  groceries,  crockery,  hardware,  and  nume- 
rous other  articles  of  foreign  production.  It  is  therefore  chiefly 
for  the  transportation  of  such  objects  that  rail  roads  and  canals 
are  adapted.  In  reference  to  commodities  which  comprise 
great  value  in  small  bulk,  they  are  of  so  little  advantage  as 
hardly  to  be  worth  naming.  The  actual  expense  of  transport- 
ing merchandise  from  Philadelphia  to  Pittsburgh,  a  distance  of 
three  hundred  miles,  all  the  way  by  a  turnpike  road,  has  not 
for  some  years,  upon  an  average,  exceeded  three  cents  per 
pound,  and  therefore,  one  cent  per  pound  for  one  hundred  miles, 
may  be  considered  as  an  estimate  sufficiently  exact  for  any  or- 
dinary calculation.  Supposing  canals  and  rail  roads,  therefore, 
to  reduce  this  expense  to  one-llfth,  or  even  much  less,  the  dimi- 
nution of  expense  would  not  be  very  sensibly  felt  upon  those 
valuable  commodities  which  constitute  so  great  a  proportion 
of  the  supplies  sent  from  the  East  to  the  West;  upon  teas,  fine 
woollen  cotton  and  silk  goods,  linens,  and  many  other  articles, 
it  would  not  be  perceptible,  whilst  upon  hundreds  of  other  ob- 
jects it  would  not  amount  to  a  difl^erence  greater  than  is  some- 
times to  be  found  between  the  prices  of  two  stores  in  the  same 
town.  Even  upon  the  coarsest  species  of  cotton  shirting  manu- 
factured in  this  country,  w  eighing  about  one  third  of  a  pound  to 
a  square  yard,  the  difference  would  be  such  a  trifle  as  to  be 
scarcely  visible  to  the  consumer. 

Now,  if  these  facts  be  admitted,  it  is  very  clear  that  rail  roads 
and  canals,  in  order  to  be  profitable  to  their  proprietors,  re- 
quire the  existence  of  that  state  of  things  which  produces  the 
most  numerous  exchanges  of  bulkly  articles.  And  what  is  that 
state  of  things?  Clearly,  foreign  commerce,  which,  by  creating 
a  demand  for  foreign  productions,  carries  with  it  a  demand,  as 
inseparable  as  cause  and  effect,  for  our  agricultural  produc- 
tions.    It  is  all  folly  to  cry  out  that  foreign  nations  will  not  buy 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  59 

of  US.  The  reason  they  do  not  buy  more  than  they  do,  is  be- 
cause we  refuse  to  buy  of  them,  and  the  more  we  refuse  to  buy 
of  them,  the  more  do  we  put  it  out  of  their  power  to  buy  of  us. 
It  is  our  own  fault  that  the  exports  of  our  agricuUural  products 
are  not  one  hundred  milhons  of  dollars  annually,  instead  of 
fifty. 

It  is  no  answer  to  this  proposition  to  say,  that  the  home 
trade  calls  for  rail  roads  and  canals ;  for  if  we  understand  the 
views  of  the  authors  of  the  "  American  System,"  their  project 
is,  to  let  every  state  and  county  and  village  have  a  portion  of 
its  blessings.  In  some  of  the  reveries  of  these  philosophers, 
they  have  imagined  the  "  American  System"  to  be  plastered 
all  over  the  country,  studding  the  surface  of  each  state  with 
manufacturing  villages,  and  bringing  the  consumer  along  side 
of  the  producer.  Indeed  the  work  is  already  advancing.  In 
Pennsylvania  and  Kentucky,  meetings  of  manufacturers  have 
already  been  held,  adopting  the  system,  in  particular  villages 
and  counties,  upon  the  professed  ground  that  it  is  injurious  to 
the  public  interests  to  import  from  another  state  or  town,  arti- 
cles which  can  be  made  on  the  spot,  and  which,  by  the  by,  ne- 
ver would  be  imported  unless  they  could  be  had  cheaper  or 
better.  Now,  we  humbly  ask  any  intelligent  man,  who  is  ca- 
pable of  thinking  on  the  subject,  whether  the  "  American  Sys- 
tem" is  not  adverse  to  the  Internal  Improvement  policy,  and 
whether  it  is  not  a  capital  error,  to  suppose  that  canals  and  rail 
roads  are  called  for  by  that  state  of  things  which  places  the 
manufacturer  along  side  of  the  farmer  1  Even  supposing  that 
manufactories  should  generally  be  located  in  New  England, 
canals  and  rail  roads  would  not  be  needed  to  convey  to  that 
sect'on  of  country  the  cotton  and  wool  and  flour  of  the  South- 
ern and  middle  states.  The  ocean  and  the  rivers  afford  already 
ample  means  of  a  cheap  communication.  We  therefore  think 
that  the  advocates  of  internal  improvement  have  made  a  great 
mistake  in  connecting  their  policy  with  that  of  the  tariff'  party, 
who,  if  their  plan  should  succeed  to  its  full  extent,  would  re- 
quire no  artificial  roads  and  canals  to  carry  on  their  concerns. 


ESSAY    No.    XXIII. 

MARCH   3,    1830. 


Indifference  of  the  public  as  to  indirect  taxes.  Doctrine  that 
■paying  high  prices,  for  commodities  is  beneficial  to  labourers, 
shewn  to  be  erroneous.  Extraordinari/  blindness  of  persons 
who  live  on  fixed  incomes,  in  relation  to  the  protective  system. 

ONE  of  the  strangest  anomalies  which  has  ever  been  pre- 
sented in  this  country,  is  the  aversion  of  the  people  to  pay  di- 


60  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

rect  taxes  for  the  support  of  government,  and  their  entire  wil- 
lingness to  pay  indirect  ones,  which  are  to  go  to  the  support  of 
.individuals.  The  man  who  would  rebel  at  a  land  tax  of  ten 
idollars,  if  payment  were  demanded  by  a  tax  gatherer,  will  most 
icheerfully  ^)ay  a  hundred  dollars,  if  the  collector  of  the  tax  is 
ithe  custom-house.  Now  we  cannot  see  why  the  mode  of  col- 
lection should  make  so  great  a  difference  as  is  here  expressed. 
Undoubtedly  the  collection  of  the  revenue  by  duties  on  import- 
ed commodities,  is  much  the  most  convenient  and  satisfactory 
to  the  public  at  large,  but  this  convenience  may  be  too  dearly 
paid  for. 

The  fact  however,  is,  the  people  generally  do  not  know  that 
they  pay  a  tax  when  they  consume  a  foreign  commodity. 
The  family  which  consumes  a  barrel  of  sugar  in  a  year,  does 
not  know  that  it  pays  a  tax  on  it  of  five  dollars,  and  the  same 
sum  on  a  bag  of  colfee.  Nor  does  the  gentleman  who  wears  a 
suit  of  broadcloth  know  that  he  pays  a  tax  on  it  of  twenty  dol- 
lars, and  that  he  cannot  put  a  carpet  on  his  floor  without  pay- 
ing a  tax  for  the  privilege,  of  from  ten  to  a  hundred  dollars. 
The  farmer  does  not  know,  that  if  he  consumes  on  his  farm 
/in  ploughs,  chains,  hooks,  harrows,  hinges,  axes,  spades,  shovels, 
i  and  the  various  other  articles  necessary  for  his  business,  5  cwt. 
1  of  iron  in  a  year,  he  pays  a  tax  of  $9.25.  The  labouring  man, 
j  who  works  from  morning  till  night  for  a  scanty  subsistence, 
does  not  know,  that  for  every  square  yard  of  flannel  or  green 
baize  or  cloth  he  purchases  for  clothing,  for  his  family,  he  pays 
a  tax  equal  to  more  than  the  first  cost  of  some  qualities  of  those 
articles  in  England,  and  to  twice  the  cost  of  others.  We  won- 
der why  the  benevolent  societies  of  the  different  cities  do  not 
take  up  this  subject,  and  see  the  poor  restored  to  their  rights. 
It  would  be  a  thousand  times  more  to  their  interest,  than  the 
various  expedients  resorted  to,  to  extend  partial  and  temporary 
relief;  for,  it  is  very  clear,  that  many  of  those  who  become 
chargeable,  would  be  able  to  escape  pauperism,  by  being  timely 
relieved  from  an  oppressive  burthen.  It  is  the  last  hair  that 
breaks  the  camel's  back.  It  is  often  the  deficiency  of  a  dollar 
or  two,  that  throws  the  poor  man  behind  hand,  and  prevents  him 
from  ever  again  obtaining  his  original  position  in  the  race  to 
wards  competency.  This  is  known  to  every  body.  Many  a  mer- 
chant even  could  trace  his  misfortunes  to  the  want  at  some  pfy 
riod  of  a  very  small  sum,  which,  throwing  him  on  the  list  of  bor- 
rowers, has  eventually  driven  him  into  losses  and  sacrifices 
that  could  never  afterwards  be  repaired.  How  important 
then,  is  it,  that  no  unnecessary,  partial  and  unjust  system  of 
taxation  should  prevail,  to  bring  about  such  a  state  of  things ! 

The  common  argument  against  these  positions  is,  that  al- 
though it  be  true,  that  people  pay  more  for  foreign  commodities 
under  high  duties,  than  under  low  duties,  yet  that  they  get 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  61 

more  for  their  labour.  Never  was  there  a  greater  fallacy  ad- 
vanced than  this.  The  opposite  result,  on  the  contrary,  is  the 
truth.  They  get  less  for  their  labour,  and  upon  the  plain  princi- 
ple, that  as  every  body  else  has  to  pay  a  higher  price  than  they 
would  have  to  pay,  were  the  duties  low,  for  the  articles  of 
which  they  stand  in  need,  the  means  of  every  body  to  purchase 
the  labour  of  others  is  proportionally  diminished.  That  this  is 
so,  will  be  manifest  to  any  one  who  reflects  for  a  moment  upon 
an  individual  case.  Can  any  man,  who  has  to  pay  a  tax  of 
ten  dollars,  afford  to  employ  as  many  persons  as  if  he  paid 
none?  If  not,  then  it  will  be  seen  that  a  tax  equal  only  to  five 
dollars  per  head  of  the  population  of  the  United  States,  for  ihe 
support  of  manufact'ires,  would  diminish  the  consuming  power 
of  the  community  to  the  extent  of  sixty  millions  of  dollars,  and, 
consequently,  diminish  the  demand  for  labour  in  an  equal  ratio. 
But  there  is  one  class  of  persons,  who  are  so  clearly  injur- 
ed by  the  American  System,  that  we  are  at  a  loss  to  account 
for  the  total  blindness  they  exhibit  in  regard  to  their  interests. 
We  allude  to  those  who  live  upon  fixed  incomes,  whether  they 
are  derived  from  salaries,  stocks,  public  funds,  ground  rents, 
mortgages,  or  annuities.  No  one  will  pretend  to  say,  that 
their  revenues  are  increased  by  the  imposition  of  high  duties ; 
and  when  we  know,  that  a  family  which  expends  $2000  per 
annum,  cannot  pay  less  than  $100  in  taxes  on  their  consump- 
tion, not  for  the  support  of  government,  but  for  the  support  of 
persons  who  are  carrying  on  a  losing  trade,  which  cannot  be 
sustained  without  contributions  from  the  people,  we  are  really 
astonished  at  the  quiescence  with  which  they  submit  to  be 
fleeced.  There  is  many  an  individual,  who  is  at  this  day  pre- 
vented from  giving  his  children  a  good  education,  because  the 
money  which  he  ought  to  appropriate  to  that  object,  is  extorted 
from  his  pocket,  in  order  to  enable  some  manufacturer  to  make 
the  fabrics  of  which  he  stands  in  need,  at  double  the  price  at 
which  they  could  be  procured  from  others.  How  long  will 
this  delusion  last  1 


ESSAY   No.   XXIV. 

MARCH  3,  1830. 


Recent  efforts  to  advance  the  cause  of  free  trade.  Mr.  Cambre- 
leng\s  Repoi't  on  Commerce. 

AMIDST  the  calamities  which  are  now  weighing  down  the 
American  people,  and  which  have  been  brought  upon  them  by 
F 


62  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

a  policy,  as  destructive  in  its  tendency  as  it  is  fraudulent  in  its 
name,  there  is  one  consolation  to  be  found,  in  the  reflection, 
that  the  struggle  for  freedom  in  trade  has  brought  out  a  more 
full  and  enlarged  discussion  of  the  principles  of  political  eco- 
nomy, as  connected  with  the  restrictive  system,  than  had  ever 
before  been  presented.  Prior  to  181(5,  the  scientific  works  of 
Smith,  Say,  Franklin,  and  a  few  other  political  philosophers, 
constituted  almost  all  the  learning  which  was  accessible  on  the 
subject ;  and  even  in  these  writings,  the  truth,  that  industry  is 
most  productive  when  left  free  from  legislative  interference, 
was  rather  asserted  as  a  self-evident  proposition,  than  as  a 
doubtful  doctrine,  calling  for  illustration.  Hence,  when  four- 
teen years  ago  our  statesmen  were  called  upon  to  oppose  the 
innovation  upon  the  then  existing  liberal  policy  of  this  country 
towards  foreign  nations,  which  was  then  first  attempted,  they 
were  compelled  to  rely  more  upon  general  principles  than  upon 
detailed  expositions.  Economical  science,  at  that  day,  stood 
unsupported  by  auxiliary  authorities,  as  the  principles  of  the 
common  law  stood,  before  an  accumulation  of  the  books  of  re- 
ports. The  case  is  now  however  altered — the  constant  efforts 
which  have  been  made  since  the  year  1819,  by  the  advocates 
of  monopoly,  to  extend  the  restrictive  system  over  the  whole 
face  of  the  land,  have  naturally  led  to  an  examination  of  the 
mischievous  tendency  of  that  system,  and  of  the  fallacious  argu- 
ments employed  by  the  oppressors  of  the  people,  to  induce  them 
to  hold  still  whilst  they  were  getting  fleeced.  At  this  day,  there 
are  books,  and  documents,  and  speeches,  all  produced  within 
the  last  seven  years,  which  have  shed  such  a  light  upon  the 
subject  of  the  delusion  called  the  "  American  System,"  that  no 
man  need  now  grope  in  the  dark,  w^ho  does  not  prefer  obscurity 
to  light. 

But  this  is  not  all.  The  work  is  still  going  bravely  on,  and 
every  year  will  witness  an  increase  of  knowledge  on  the  sub- 
ject, which,  at  a  future  time,  cannot  but  assume  a  form  so  pow- 
erful, that  all  the  artifices,  absurdities,  and  childish  fancies, 
gravely  put  forth  as  political  economy,  by  grave  men,  who 
imagine  themselves  to  be  statesmen,  will  be  dissipated  like  fogs 
before  the  morning  sun. 

Amongst  the  recent  productions  with  which  the  cause  of 
sound  political  science  has  been  enriched,  the  Report  upon 
Commerce,  made  to  the  House  of  Representatives  by  Mr.  Cam- 
breleng,  stands  pre-eminent.  To  that  gentleman,  the  country 
is  in  no  small  degree  indebted,  for  one  of  the  most  able,  nay, 
we  must  say,  according  to  our  humble  apprehension,  the  most 
able  and  maslerhj  exposition  of  the  practical  operation  of  re- 
strictive laws,  that  has  ever  been  submitted  to  Congress;  for  it 
.not  only  advances  and  maintains  in  an  argumentative,  sound, 
and  logical  manner,  the  grand  essential  theories  of  free  trade, 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  63 

but  it  supports  and  renders  irrefutable  those  theories,  by  the  ad- 
ducing of  the  most  conclusive ^ac^s,  collated  in  the  form  of  ta- 
bles. To  those  only  who  are  accustomed  to  scientific  and  sta- 
tistical researches,  can  possibly  be  known  the  labour  bestowed 
upon  a  composition  of  this  sort.  It  is  not  within  the  walls  of  a 
committee  room  in  the  Capitol,  however  industriously  a  mem- 
ber may  be  employed,  that  such  full  developments  of  important 
principles  and  facts  are  to  be  made.  Months  of  unceasing  toil 
are  requisite  for  the  amassing  of  such  a  body  of  information  as 
is  contained  in  this  report ;  and  when  we  find  an  individual, 
whose  zeal  for  the  interests  of  the  country  has  led  him  to  de- 
vote to  the  public  service,  as  we  presume  Mr.  Cambreleng  has 
done,  time  and  industry  not  belonging  to  the  public,  we  think 
that  his  claims  to  the  public  gratitude  are  very  materially  in- 
creased. In  our  next  paper  we  shall  commence  the  publica- 
tion of  this  important  document.  It  will  be  read  by  every 
friend  to  the  true  interests  of  the  country  with  satisfaction,  and 
should  be  preserved  for  future  reference  by  all  those  who  wish 
to  retain  in  their  possession  a  document,  before  which  all  the 
vapid  and  silly  effusions  of  the  whole  College  of  "  American 
System"  philosophers  sink  into  mere  non-entity.  The  facts 
w^hich  are  there  brought  forward  cannot  be  disputed,  and  we 
are  so  fully  convinced,  that  this  document  itself  contains  suffi- 
cient evidence  to  establish  beyond  all  rational  doubt,  the  abso- 
lute and  consummate  folly  of  the  restrictive  system,  even  as  re- 
gards the  interests  of  the  manufacturers,  that  we  say,  without 
hesitation,  that  those  who  reject  such  testimony,  cannot  be 
reached  by  the  powers  of  reason. 

The  merchants  of  New  York,  says  the  Evening  Post,  have 
made  arrangements  for  printing  5000  copies  of  Mr.  Cambre- 
leng's  able  and  masterly  Report  on  Commerce,  for  distribution. 
This  is  as  it  should  be.  Those  who  are  injured  by  the  tariff 
policy,  thousands  of  dollars  a  year,  should  not  hesitate  to  expend 
their  tens,  in  the  dissemination  of  knowledge,  calculated  to  over- 
throw that  policy.  It  was  by  means  of  the  press,  that  the  arch 
heresy  which  is  destroying  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  this 
country,  became  first  implanted  amongst  us,  and  it  is  by  means 
of  the  press,  that  the  imposture  is  to  be  eradicated.  But  the 
press  cannot  operate,  unless  some  one  will  pay  for  its  support. 
And  who,  in  the  natural  order  of  things,  should  perform  that 
duty?  Clearly,  those  who  are  to  put  a  hundred  dollars  into 
their  pockets,  for  every  five  they  take  out. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  and  one  which  ought  not  to  be  for- 
gotten, that  of  all  the  writers  and  statesmen,  who  within  the 
last  seven  years  have  done  so  much  to  enlighten  the  public 
mind,  upon  matters  of  political  economy,  there  is  not  one,  who 
has  a  deeper  stake  in  the  question  of  high  duties,  than  any  mo- 
derate consumer  of  foreign   commodities.     And  yet  all  their 


64 


ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 


literary,  scientific  and  political  services,  and  they  have  neither 
been  few  nor  unimportant,  have  been  rendered  to  the  cause, 
without  any  remuneration,  except  the  self-consciousness  of  hav- 
ing performed  a  service  to  the  country.  Of  their  exertions  of 
the  mind  and  the  pen,  others  are  to  reap  the  reward,  and  the 
least  therefore  that  these  latter  can  do,  is  to  compliment  those 
who  have  laboured  for  their  interests,  by  giving  circulation  to 
the  writings  and  public  documents,  which  are  the  fruits  of  their 
labours,  and  which  can  alone  remove  the  veil  from  the  eyes  of 
the  people. 


ESSAY     No.  X  X  V. 


MARCH  C,    1830. 

The  doctrine,  iliat  countervailing  duties  against  the  restrictive 
laws  of  other  nations  are  beneficial,  shewn  to  he  unsound,  hy 
reference  to  the  trade  between  Buenos  Ayres  and  the  United 
States. 

ONE  of  the  most  usual  arguments  with  the  advocates  of  high 
duties,  and  even  with  some  who  strongly  incline  to  the  doctrine 
of  free  trade,  is,  that  if  nations  adopt  the  restrictive  system, 
as  relates  to  our  productions,  it  is  wise  policy  in  us  to  adopt  it 
in  relation  to  their  productions.  A  very  simple  illustration  will 
shew  the  fallacy  of  this  position,  and  we  shall  draw  one,  from 
a  species  of  trade  which  can  very  easily  be  comprehended. 

The  commerce  between  the  United  States  and  Buenos  Ayres 
consists,  for  the  most  part,  in  an  exchange  of  agricultural  pro- 
ducts. We  send  to  her,  flour ;  she  gives  us  in  exchange  for  it, 
hides.  Now,  why  should  the  people  of  the  United  States,  who 
have  such  an  abundance  of  grazing  lands,  send  all  the  way  to 
Buenos  Ayres,  a  distance  of  seven  thousand  miles,  to  procure 
what  they  can  raise  at  home  ?  And  why  should  the  people  of 
Buenos  Ayres,  who  have  very  fine  wheat  lands,  send  all  the 
way  to  North  America  to  procure  what  they  can  raise  at  home  ? 
The  answer  is  plain ;  because  each,  by  appropriating  its  lands 
to  the  raising  of  the  particular  species  of  agricultural  produc- 
tions for  which  they  are  best  adapted,  and  then  bartering  the 
one  for  the  other,  can  procure  a  greater  quantity  of  the  article 
desired,  than  if  it  w^ere  raised  at  home.  In  other  words,  the 
American  farmer,  by  raising  wheat,  can  purchase  with  it,  by 
sending  it  abroad,  more  hides  than  he  could  obtain  if  he  were 
to  raise  cattle  on  his  farm  ;  and  the  Buenos  Ayrean  Gaxicho,  by 
grazing  cattle,  can  purchase  more  flour,  by  sending  his  hides 
abroad,  than  he  could  raise,  with  the  same  capital  and  labour, 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  65i 

if  he  were  to  till  his  lands.  This  is  the  principle  upon  which 
commerce  is  founded.  Every  nation  has  some  particular  ad- 
vantage over  others,  or  else  an  interchange  of  commodities 
could  not  exist,  and  whether  this  advantage  be  natural,  as  in 
cUmate  or  soil — or,  artiJicial,3Lii  in  skill,  industry,  intelligence,  en- 
terprize,  low  wages,  or,  abundance  of  capital,  it  is  of  no  sort 
of  consequence  ;  the  benefits  of  mutual  exchanges  are  the  same. 

Let  us  now  suppose  that  at  Buenos  Ayres  there  is  no  duty  on 
American  flour,  as  in  the  United  States  there  is  no  duty  on  Bue- 
nos Ayrean  hides.  Let  us  also  suppose,  that  a  Pennsylvania 
farmer  upon  one  hundred  acres  of  land  can  raise  2000  bushels  of 
wheat,  which  can  be  manufactured  into  400  barrels  of  flour, 
and  that  this  flour  can  be  bartered  at  Buenos  Ayres  for  hides, 
so  as  to  bring  back,  we  will  suppose,  after  paying  freight  out- 
wards and  homewards,  and  paying  insurance,  commissions,  and 
all  other  charges,  400  hides,  that  is,  one  hide  for  every  barrel 
of  flour.  We  will  also  suppose  that  the  Pennsylvania  farmer, 
by  grazing  instead  of  tillage,  can  only  get  oft'  of  his  hundred 
acres  of  land,  200  hides,  that  is  half  the  quantity.  The  propo- 
sition we  are  to  combat  asserts,  that  if  the  Buenos  Ayrean  go- 
vernment should  lay  a  duty  on  flour,  it  would  be  good  policy  in 
our  government  to  lay  a  corresponding  duty  on  hides,  that 
is,  that  we  should  be  benefited  by  such  countervailing  duty. 
Let  us  examine  this  matter  minutely. 

Buenos  Ayres  imposes  a  duty  of  fifty  per  cent  on  American 
flour.  The  effect  of  this  would  be  to  diminish  its  consumption ; 
for,  at  a  higher  price,  it  is  not  possible  that  the  same  quantity  of 
any  commodity  can  be  consumed.  The  Pennsylvania  farmer 
finds  a  diminished  demand  for  flour  at  Buenos  Ayres,  and  he 
will  not,  consequently,  raise  so  much  wheat.  He  experiences  a 
positive  loss  from  this  diminution  of  his  trade,  arising  from  the 
act  of  the  Buenos  Ayrean  government,  and  the  Buenos  Ayrean 
people  also  experience  a  corresponding  loss,  from  a  diminution 
in  the  demand  for  hides.  Each  nation,  from  necessity,  will  be 
obliged  to  turn  a  portion  of  its  capital  and  industry  to  a  less 
productive  branch  of  agriculture.  But  the  Pennsylvania  farmer 
can  still  find  a  market  at  Buenos  Ayres  for  the  produce  of  75 
acres  of  his  land,  that  is,  for  300  barrels  of  flour,  and  can  receive 
in  exchange  for  it  300  hides.  It  is  therefore  better  for  him,  to 
go  on  with  his  trade,  because,  notwithstanding  this  high  duty, 
he  can  get  more  hides  from  Buenos  Ayres  for  the  produce  of 
his  75  acres,  than  he  could  get  from  turning  his  land  to  gra- 
zing. 

Buenos  Ayres,  we  will  suppose,  goes  still  further.  She  in- 
creases the  duty  on  American  flour,  and  by  that  means  dimi- 
nishes the  consumption  of  it  to  200  barrels.  Still  the  Pennsylva- 
nia farmer  can  find  a  market  for  the  product  of  half  his  land,  and 
so  long  as  the  market  is  left  open  to  him  for  any  portion  of  it, 


^  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

it  is  not  for  his  interest  tliat  he  should  restrict  it,  further  than 
the  Buenos  Ayrean  government  itself  has  done.  A  half  a  loaf 
is  better  than  no  bread.  ]f  a  man  refuses  to  buy  two  hats,  that 
is  no  reason  why  a  hatter  should  refuse  to  sell  him  one,  or,  if 
ie  refuses  to  buy  of  a  butcher  a  quarter  of  mutton,  that  is  no 
reason  why  the  butcher  should  reiuse  to  sell  him  a  leg.  That 
a  countervailing  duty  would  only  make  matters  worse,  can  easi- 
ly be  shewn  by  following  up  the  illustration. 

The  United  States  government,  by  way  of  retaliation,  lays 
a  duty  upon  Buenos  Ayrean  hides.  This  diminishes  the  sale  of 
hides  in  Buenos  Ayrcs,  and  as  those  who  cannot  sell,  are  de- 
prived to  an  equal  extent  of  the  power  of  buying,  the  demand 
for  American  flour  is,  to  that  amount,  diminished,  and  thus  the 
Pennsylvania  farmer  would  find  that  the  act  of  his  own  go- 
vernment, instead  of  benefiting  him,  had  aggravated  the  origi- 
nal evil,  and  that  the  effect  of  such  a  measure  would  be  precise- 
ly like  that  of  a  man,  who,  by  way  of  retaliation  upon  another 
for  a  supposed  wrong,  should  fall  to  work  and  pull  his  hair  out 
of  his  own  head,  as  some  foolish  children  do. 

A  countervailing  duty  is  only  justifiable  upon  economical 
principles,  where  there  is  a  reasonable  probability  that  the  ori- 
ginal aggressor  upon  the  laws  of  free  trade  can  be  coerced  into 
an  abandonment  of  his  error.  If  it  should  fail  of  success,  it 
cannot  but  be  productive  of  mischief,  and  as  a  permanent  sys- 
tem it  is  always  to  be  avoided.  Unless  this  reasoning  can  be 
^ewn  to  be  unsound,  it  must  follow  that,  if  nine  nations  out  of 
ten  adopt  the  restrictive  system,  it  is  the  true  policy  of  the  tenth 
one  to  stick  to  free  trade,  and  if  the  nine  are  silly  enough  to 
refuse  to  buy  two  barrels  of  flour,  to  sell  them  one,  rather  than 
none. 


ESSAY    No.    XXVI. 


MARCH    6,    1830. 

The  American  System  adopted  in  Kentucky.  Ahsur.dity  of,  shewn 
in  a  reference  to  the  proceedings  of  a  public  meeting  at  Ver- 
sailles, in  that  state.  Circle  described  by  the  money  received 
by  the  graziers  of  the  Western  country  in  exchange  for  live 
stock.  Individuals,  as  well  as  nations,  are  enabled  to  sell, 
because  they  buy. 

WE  present  our  readers  below,  with  the  proceedings  of  a 
meeting  of  mechanics  and  citizens  of  the  town  of  Versailles,  in 
Woodford  county,  Kentucky,  held  in  October  last,  adopting 
the  principles  laid  down  by  the  A^merican  System,  which  teach, 


OF    FREE     TRADE  67 

that  it  is  good  policy  for  a  nation  to  deal  as  little  as  possible 
with  foreigners.  The  address  of  the  committee  appointed  by 
the  meeting,  will  be  found  to  be  in  perfect  accordance  with  the 
leading  features  of  the  restrictive  policy.  It  denies  that  any 
reasoning  is  required,  "  to  prove  that  it  is  the  interest  of  Ken- 
tuckians  to  encourage  and  use  Kentucky  manufactures  in  pre- 
ference to  the  manufactures  of  our  sister  states,  and  particularly 
the  manufactures  of  foreign  nations," — insists  upon  it,  that 
trade  with  the  Eastern  and  Northern  states  drains  them  of 
their  money ;  and  asserts  that  Kentucky,  by  the  present  course, 
will  become  more  impoverished  than  other  states  possessing 
fewer  natural  advantages. 

From  this  movement  in  the  West,  which  appears  to  have 
been  preceded  by  one  in  Shelby  county,  where  "  the  true  Ken- 
tucky policy"  seems  to  have  first  been  proclaimed,  it  strikes  us 
that  the  shoe  begins  to  pinch  in  that  quarter  of  the  country,  as 
it  has  already  done  in  so  many  other  sections  of  the  union.  It 
is  well  known  to  the  community,  that  Kentucky  is  an  agricul- 
tural state,  and  that  amongst  her  articles  of  export  are  thou- 
sands of  horses,  cattle  and  hogs,  which  are  driven  into  the  Ca- 
rolinas  and  Georgia,  where  they  are  sold  for  money.  It  is  also 
known,  that  during  the  last  year  a  spirit  of  retaliation  against 
Kentucky,  for  the  active  part  taken  by  her  Representatives  in 
Congress  in  favour  of  the  system  so  injurious  to  the  Southern 
states,  was  manifested  by  the  latter  in  a  refusal  to  purchase  the 
usual  supply  of  animals.  This  refusal  could  not  but  have  re- 
sulted in  great  inconvenience  and  loss  to  many  of  the  drovers 
and  raisers  of  stock,  who,  in  their  turn,  must  have  fallen  short 
in  their  payments  to  the  merchants  and  mechanics  at  home ;  or, 
at  all  ev^ents,  have  been  deprived  of  a  part  of  the  capital  with 
which  they  had  usually  carried  on  their  business.  It  is  impossi- 
ble that  any  great  interruption  to  trade,  domestic  or  foreign, 
can  ever  take  place,  without  shewing  its  effects  throughout  the 
whole  community  upon  which  the  interruption  operates ;  and 
if  the  drovers  of  Kentucky,  last  year  carried  back  from  the 
Southern  states  only  two  or  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  less 
than  the  amount  which  they  had  usually  received  for  the  same 
number  of  animals,  numerous  embarrassments  must  have  been 
felt  in  the  grazing  districts.  The  real  causes  however  of  em- 
barrassment, and  what  is  called  scarcity  of  money,  are  not  al- 
ways apparent  to  those  who  are  only  indirectly  reached  by  the 
sinking  of  capital,  and  the  chances  are  ten  to  one  that  some  er- 
roneous one  will  be  assigned. 

This  has  clearly  been  the  case  in  Philadelphia,  in  reference 
to  the  American  System.  Every  step  taken  in  that  wretched 
policy,  has  operated  upon  that  commercial  city,  precisely  in  the 
same  manner  as  a  decree  abolishing  certain  employments. 
Ship-builders,  boat-builders,  riggers,  sail-makers,  rope-makers, 


68  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

plumbers,  smiths,  painters,  stevidorcs,  clerks,  porters,  and  all 
others  who  gain  their  livelihood  by  commerce  and  navigation, 
are  thrown  out  of  employment,  and  swell  the  ranks  of  the  com- 
petitors in  other  species  of  labour,  whilst  their  wives  and 
daughters  are  compelled  to  seek  employment  with  their  needle, 
in  channels  already  filled  up  with  a  due  proportion  of  seam- 
stresses. These  people,  from  their  station  in  life,  are  most  of 
them  incapable  of  judging  of  the  real  cause  of  their  suflerings, 
and  can  very  readily  be  made  to  believe,  that  the  falling  off  of 
commerce,  which  they  behold,  is  the  result  of  the  refusal  of 
foreign  nations  to  buy  of  us,  when  it  is  in  fact  owing  to  our  own 
folly  in  refusing  to  buy  of  them,  and  thereby  putting  it  out  of 
their  power  to  buy  of  us ;  for  nations  if  they  cannot  sell,  can- 
not buy. 

In  the  Kentucky  address  there  is  visible  the  same  species  of 
erroneous  reasoning.  The  committee  seem  to  suppose,  that 
whether  the  people  of  Kentucky  consume  the  manufactures  of 
the  North  and  East  or  not,  there  will  be  the  same  demand  at 
the  South,  for  the  productions  which  they  sell  for  money.  This 
is  a  great  error.  The  money  drawn  out  of  CaroHna  for  horses 
and  cattle  in  one  year,  is  the  same  rnoney  v-hich  is  drawn  out  the 
next.  If  a  bundle  of  bank  notes,  or  a  bag  of  dollars  could  have 
made  a  speech  at  the  Versailles  meeting,  it  would  have  been 
pretty  much  in  the  following  terms : — "  I  am  by  nature  a  wan- 
derer, and  can  no  more  be  compelled  to  remain  in  Kentucky, 
than  the  water  of  the  Ohio  can  be  made  to  stop  at  the  falls. 
My  late  owner  brought  me  from  Carolina,  where  I  was  ex 
changed  for  a  drove  of  hogs.  On  my  arrival  in  this  state,  I 
was  handed  over  to  a  storekeeper,  who  to-morrow  is  going  to 
send  me  to  a  manufacturer  in  Massachusetts,  to  pay  his  bill  for 
domestic  goods,  purchased  six  months  ago.  I  shall  not  long 
remain  in  that  quarter.  The  crop  of  cotton  will  begin  to  be 
ready  for  shipment,  from  Charleston,  about  the  first  of  November, 
and  I  shall  be  sent  there  to  buy  cotton,  to  make  more  domestic 
goods.  There  I  shall  fall  into  the  hands  of  a  factor,  who  will 
send  me  into  the  country  as  a  remittance  to  some  planter,  and 
before  another  year  is  over,  I  will  be  back  here  again  as  the 
price  of  a  drove  of  horses.  Therefore  you  can  readily  see, 
that  if  any  impediment  is  put  in  the  way  of  my  going  to  the 
Eastern  manufacturer,  no  more  cattle  can  be  sold  in  Carolina, 
because  the  CaroHna  planter  will  not  get  his  usual  supply  of 
cash  from  the  North,  inasmuch  as  the  Eastern  manufacturer 
can  only  buy  cotton,  because  the  Kentucky  merchant  buys  his 
manufactured  goods."  This  is  the  real  operation  of  the  inter- 
nal trade  of  this  country,  as  far  as  it  is  carried  on  by  money, 
and  not  by  the  intervention  of  bills  of  exchange ;  and  if  it  were 
possible  for  Kentucky  to  carry  the  American  System  to  the  ex- 
tent recommended  by  the  meeting  of  Versailles,  she  would  find 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  69 

a  corresponding  falling  ofFin  her  exports  of  live  stock.  The  circle 
which  we  have  mentioned,  as  performed  by  the  money  brought 
into  Kentucky  for  her  produce  exported,  is  just  as  regularly 
described  as  that  of  the  earth  around  the  sun. 

We  rejoice  to  see  such  proceedings  as  those  alluded  to. 
Their  entire  absurdity  will  strike  the  common  sense  of  the  pub- 
lic, and  lead  them  to  reflect  upon  the  miserable  condition  to 
which  we  should  be  brought,  if  the  system  were  carried  out  to 
its  full  extent — if  not  only  every  state,  but  every  county,  every 
township,  nay  every  individual  family,  should  resolve  to  manu- 
facture within  itself,  all  the  articles  required  to  supply  its  wants. 
And  here  we  will  take  occasion  to  remark,  that  the  idea  incul- 
cated by  the  address,  that  shoes,  hats,  saddlery,  tin  ware  and 
many  articles  made  of  iron,  are  much  cheaper  in  Kentucky 
(quality  considered)  than  when  imported,  is  of  a  somewhat  du- 
bious character  to  us,  who  hold  the  doctrine  that  people  are 
the  best  judges  of  their  own  interests.  If,  however,  this  is  not 
true  of  those  for  whom  the  address  was  intended,  the  manifest 
remedy  would  have  been  to  have  addressed  their  understand- 
ings, and  not  their  prejudices — to  have  convinced  them  that 
Kentucky  manufactures  were  cheaper  and  better  than  foreign, 
and  there  would  then  have  been  no  necessity  for  the  cultivation 
of  those  bad  passions  of  jealousy  and  ill  will,  which  must  al- 
ways exist,  where  one  party  is  persuaded  that  he  is  "  tributary-" 
to  another.  By  such  a  course  too,  the  liberal  doctrines  of  free 
trade  would  have  been  inculcated,  instead  of  the  selfish  fallacies 
of  the  restrictive  system ;  for,  by  the  principles  of  an  enlighten- 
ed poHtical  economy,  it  is  enjoined  upon  all  to  buy  of  those 
who  can  furnish  at  the  cheapest  rate,  any  article  of  a  given 
quality. 


ESSAY    No.    XXVII. 


MARCH  24,   1830. 

Foreign  capital.  Employment  of,  shewn  to  he  advantageous  to 
the  country,  and  one  of  the  great  sources  of  the  prosperity  of 
the  United  States.  Fallacy  sheum,  of  the  assertion  that  an 
exportation  of  public  stocks  and  bank  stocks  is  injurious. 

ONE  of  the  great  evils  supposed  to  be  inflicted  on  the  coun- 
try by  the  importation  of  foreign  manufactures  is,  that  it  occa- 
sions the  transmission  abroad  of  immense  quantities  of  public 
stock,  bank  stock  and  other  similar  securities.  The  constant 
repetition  of  this  theme  has  made  a  very  deep  impression  on  the 
community,  and  many  honest  people  do  really  believe  that  this 
operation  is  positively  disadvantageous  to  the  nation.     We  think 


70  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

we  can  demonstrate  that  it  is  not  so,  and  with  that  view,  sub- 
mit the  following  remarks,  which,  ahhough  not  new  to  most  of 
our  readers,  may  be  so  to  some. 

Ever  since  the  colonies,  which  now  form  these  United  States, 
were  planted  by  the  mother  country,  it  has  been  found  advan- 
tageous for  the  inhabitants  of  this  country  to  borrow  capital 
from  Europe ;  for,  as  capital  invested  here,  would  usually  pro- 
duce in  agriculture,  commerce,  or  manufactures,  a  greater  re- 
venue than  the  amount  of  the  interest  at  which  it  could  be  bor- 
rowed, there  was  a  clear  gain  to  the  country  of  the  difference. 
Thus,  if  a  man  could  borrow  in  London  £100,  at  five  per  cent, 
interest,  and  apply  it  to  some  productive  employment  by  which 
he  could  convert  the  £100  into  £110,  it  is  manifest  that  he 
would  be  a  gainer  of  five  pounds,  and  that  although  five  pounds 
would  have  to  be  sent  out  of  the  country  to  pay  to  the  foreign 
capitalist  the  interest  on  his  loan,  yet  the  country  would  still 
have  been  five  pounds  richer  than  if  the  loan  had  never  been 
made. 

Such  foreign  loans  have  always  been  made  to  a  very  great 
extent,  and  it  is  to  this  circumstance  that  is  in  a  great  degree  to 
be  ascribed  the  unexampled  rapidity  which  has  characterized 
the  march  of  our  population  on  the  road  to  wealth.  But  let  it 
not  be  understood  that  by  loans  of  capital,  we  mean  loans  of 
money,  from  individual  to  individual.  We  allude  to  the  loans 
of  capital  in  the  form  of  merchandise  sold  to  our  merchants 
upon  credit,  and  which  perhaps  at  no  period  since  the  revolu- 
tion, have  ever  been  less  in  amount  than  several  millions  of 
dollars.  To  those  who  are  not  accustomed  to  regard  a  sale  of 
merchandise  on  credit,  in  the  light  of  a  loan  of  capital,  the  pro- 
position may  not  perhaps  at  first  sight  appear  to  be  clear,  but  a 
little  reflection  will  shew  that  there  is  no  difference  in  the  two 
cases,  except  indeed  that  the  man  who  borrows  merchandize  is 
better  off"  than  the  one  who  borrows  money,  for  the  latter  in 
reality  only  requires  money  that  he  may  have  the  means  of  buy- 
ing merchandise. 

The  advantages  which  a  young  and  thriving  country  derives 
from  the  borrowing  of  capital  from  abroad,  consists  in  this : — 
that  she  is  thereby  enabled  to  put  into  activity  industry,  which 
would  otherwise  remain  idle  and  unproductive.  For,  it  is  evi- 
dent that,  without  capital,  either  in  the  shape  of  agricultural 
produce,  merchandize,  raw  materials,  ships,  or  implements, 
&c.,  it  is  impossible  to  set  people  at  work.  Even  the  farmer 
who  derives  his  food  from  the  earth,  cannot  subsist,  unless  he 
possesses  a  capital  in  provisions  sufficient  to  feed  him  until  his 
crops  come  to  maturity;  and  if  the  operations  of  these  purchases 
on  credit,  should  be  traced  through  their  remotest  ramifica- 
tions, it  would  be  found  that,  fields  in  Missouri  are  now  get- 
ting ploughed,  which  would  have  been  this  day  lying  waste, 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  71 

had  not  some  merchant  in  England,  sold  upon  a  credit  to  some 
merchant  in  Philadelphia,  articles,  which  he,  solely  by  means 
of  this  credit,  was  enabled  to  sell  to  a  merchant  in  St.  Louis, 
who,  owing  to  this  facility,  was  enabled  to  sell  to  the  farmer 
in  question,  as  his  only  means  of  supporting  himself,  of  buying 
implements  and  seed,  and  of  hiring  others  to  assist  him,  whilst 
his  grain  was  growing.  The  same  is  true  of  the  operations  of 
commerce.  What  a  vast  proportion  of  our  export  trade  consists 
of  cargoes  purchased  on  credit ;  and  although  these  credits  are 
not  directly  obtained  by  the  exporting  merchant  from  the  fo- 
reign capitalist,  yet  they  are  indirectly  obtained  from  him,  for, 
without  the  aid  of  his  loans  to  some  person  in  the  community, 
the  domestic  capitalist  could  not  have  given  the  credit  on  his 
produce.  In  many  cases  indeed,  the  credit  obtained  by  the 
importer  is  clearly  shewn  to  result  from  the  credit  given  by  the 
European  capitalist — as,  where  foreign  merchandize  is  export- 
ed to  the  West  Indies  or  to  South  America,  purchased  at  a  cre- 
dit, which  the  importer  is  only  enabled  to  give,  because  he  re- 
ceives it. 

From  this  it  may  be  seen,  that  whenever  capital  can  be  bor- 
rowed abroad,  at  a  less  rate  of  interest  than  the  profit  which 
can  be  derived  from  its  employment  at  home,  it  is  advantage- 
ous to  the  country  to  borrow  it,  and  that  the  more  that  is  bor- 
rowed for  purposes  of  productive  industry,  the  better.  When- 
ever such  loans  cease  to  be  profitable,  they  will  cease  to  be 
made,  but  so  long  as  ten  per  cent,  can  be  produced  from  agri- 
cultural, commercial,  or  manufacturing  employments,  and  so 
long  as  domestic  capital  cannot  be  had  at  less  than  six  per  cent., 
whilst  foreign  capital  can  be  had  at  four,  so  long  will  the  coun- 
try be  a  gainer  by  borrowing.  Now,  what  are  public  stocks  ? 
Nothing  but  the  promissory  notes  or  bonds  of  the  government, 
stipulating  for  the  payment  of  certain  sums  of  money  at  speci- 
fied or  at  indefinite  periods.  They  difier  in  nothing,  except  as  to 
the  supposed  solidity  of  the  security,  from  the  notes  or  bonds  of 
individuals,  and  the  exportation  of  ten  millions  of  them  has  no 
more  unfavourable  influence  on  the  wealth  or  prosperity  of  the 
country,  than  the  exportation  of  ten  millions  of  notes  and  bonds 
issued  and  made  payable  at  a  future  day  by  a  hundred  import- 
ing merchants.  It  is  true,  that  the  amount  of  the  interest  is 
annually  withdrawn  from  the  country,  but  how  manifest  is  it 
that  this  interest  is  only  a  part  of  the  profit  w'hich  has  been 
made  by  the  employment  of  the  capital,  and  to  look  upon  that 
as  an  evil,  would  not  be  less  obsurd.  than  if  a  man  who  should 
borrow  a  hundred  dollars  at  five  per  cent.,  and  make  ten  out 
of  it,  should  complain  that  he  was  getting  ruined,  because  he 
was  obli^red  to  pav  his  creditor  for  the  hire  of  the  instrument 
by  which  he  had  put  five  dollars  into  his  pockeL 


72  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES  ,  , 

V 

ESSAY   No.   XXVIII. 

MARCH  27,   I80O. 

Advantages  of  direct  taxation  over  indirect  taxation.  Differ- 
ence  slieun  in  the  case  of  the  expenses  of  a  labouring  man. 
Probable  amount  of  indirect  tax  paid  by  the  population  of 
the  United  States. 

A  SENSIBLE  writer  in  Georgia,  who  has  favoured  us  with 

an  article  which  appears  to  day,  has  advanced  the  opinion  that 
it  would  be  for  the  interest  of  the  people  of  this  country  to  sup- 
port the  government  by  raising  an  adequate  fund  by  direct  tax- 
ation, rather  than  by  imposts.  That  his  position  is  sound,  we 
are  perfectly  satisfied,  but  the  misfortune  is,  that,  in  the  actual 
state  of  public  information,  it  would  be  impossible  to  convince 
the  people  that  it  was  better  for  them  to  put  their  hands  into 
their  own  pockets  and  take  out  one  dollar,  than  to  let  somebody 
I  else  do  it  for  them,  and  take  out  five.  That  the  custom-house 
/  process  of  taxing  the  nation  costs  five  times  the  amount  that  the 
I  process  of  a  direct  tax  would  cost,  we  think  can  easily  be  de- 
monstrated, and  although  we  have  not  the  most  remote  idea  of 
ever  seeing  so  much  good  sense  in  the  nation,  as  would  lead  us 
to  make  our  ports  free  ports,  yet  we  think  the  subject  is  one 
which  is  worth  commenting  on. 

After  the  year  1834,  when  the  whole  of  the  public  debt  will 
have  been  extinguished,  and  the  w^orld  will  be  presented  with 
a  phenomenon  in  politics  never  before  beheld,  of  a  nation  con- 
(taining  a  population  of  twelve  millions  of  people,  icithout  a  na- 
tional debt  of  a  single  cent,  the  expenses  of  this  government 
will  amount  to  an  annual  sum  not  exceeding  twelve  millions  of 
dollars.  This  sum  would  average,  upon  the  whole  population, 
1  dollar  per  head,  or,  say  5  dollars  upon  every  family  of  five  per- 
sons; but  if  assessed  in  the  mode  in  which  state  taxes,  or  county 
rates  and  levies,  or  corporation  tdixes,  all  of  which  are  direct 
taxes,  are  assessed,  would  vary  in  such  a  way  as  would  pro- 
bably not  fall  upon  the  generality  of  the  poor  at  a  higher  rate 
than  fifty  cents  per  family,  nor  upon  any  of  the  rich,  at  more 
than  fifty  dollars  per  family.  That  such  a  compromise  would  be 
immensely  for  the  benefit  of  all,  will  not  be  disputed  by  any  one 
who  will  for  a  moment  reflect  upon  the  indirect  tax  he  pays 
under  the  present  system  of  duties. 

We  will  first  notice  the  rich  man,  who  fives  in  more  or  less 
aflluence,  and  who  has  a  family  of  five  persons.  The  tax  he 
pays  upon  his  clothing  for  himself,  his  wife  and  three  children — 
upon  his  carpeting,  bedding,  bed  linen,  blankets,  table  linen, 
towels  and  furniture — upon  his  knives  and  forks,  plates,  dishes, 
china  and  glass  ware — upon  his  hats,  shoes  and  boots — upon 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  73 

his  carriage  and  harness — the  locks  and  hinges,  bolts  and  nails, 
and  window  glass,  employed  in  building  his  house — upon  his 
sugar,  coffee,  tea,  wine,  brandy,  porter,  beer,  spices,  and  the 
hundreds  of  other  articles  which  form  a  part  of  his  consump- 
tion— the  tax  he  pays,  we  say,  will  probably  amount  to  several 
hundred  dollars  per  annum,  and  certainly  to  not  less  than  twice 
or  thrice  the  amount  he  would  have  to  contribute  in  the  form 
of  a  direct  tax.  But  it  is  not  for  the  rich  that  we  have  any 
concern.  They  are  able  to  take  care  of  themselves,  and  if  they 
are  willing  to  pay  two  or  three  taxes  instead  of  one,  they  are  at 
liberty  to  dispose  of  their  wealth  as  suits  them  best. 

The  case  is  not  so,  however,  with  the  poor  and  labouring 
man.  He  is  obliged  to  toil  from  morning  till  night,  to  procure 
a  humble  subsistence;  and  instead  of  being  taxed  lighter  in  pro- 
portion to  his  inability  to  pay,  he  is  taxed  heavier.  It  would 
be  no  difficult  matter  to  shew  how  he  would  be  a  gainer  by 
the  substitution  of  a  direct  tax  for  a  custom-house  tax,  and  as 
his  bill  of  fare  can  be  easily  made  up,  we  shall  trouble  the  read- 
er with  a  short  statement.  We  shall  take  a  mechanic  who 
earns  one  dollar  per  day,  upon  an  average,  or,  say,  ^300  per 
annum,  who  has  a  wife  and  three  children. 

His  rent  we  will  suppose  to  be  $50,  but  if  his  landlord  had 
not  been  compelled  to  pay  high  duties  upon  the  window  glass, 
locks,  bolts,  nails,  hinges,  fastenings,  screws,  and  other  articles 
used  in  building  the  house,  he  could  have  obtained  it  for  less, 
say,  -  -  -  -  -  -f  1 

For  himself,  he  w^ould  require  one  suit  of  good  wool- 
len clothes,  containing  three  square  yards,  at  $2.25 
per  yard,  the  duty  of  which  is  just  one  half,  or,       -  3  37 1- 

One  suit  of  working  clothes,  three  square  yards,  at 
90  cents,  the  duty  on  which  is  just  half,  or  -  1  35 

For  himself,  his  wife,  and  children,  he  would  require 
ten  square  yards  of  coarse  flannel,  upon  which  the  duty 
is  22j^  cents  per  square  yard,  equal  to         -  -  2  25 

He  would  also  want  for  lining,  10  square  yards  of 
baize,  upon  which  the  duty  is  also  22^  cents  per  square 
yard,  equal  to---  -  -  -  2  25 

The  other  clothing  of  himself  and  family,  hats,  shoes, 
blankets,  stockings,  &c.,  would  not  cost  less  than  $30, 
upon  w^hich  the  duty  would  be  at  least  -  10 

They  would  consume  two  bushels  of  salt,  on  meat, 
fish,  the  table,  &c.,  the  duty  on  which  would  be  50 

Six  pounds  of  tea — duty  at  50  cts.  -  -  3 

Fifty  pounds  of  sugar — duty  3  cts.  -  -       1  50 

Twelve  pounds  of  cofllse — duty  at  5  cts.  -  60 

One  gallon  of  foreign  liquor — duty  40  cts.  -  40 

All  other  articles  not  enumerated,  -  .  0  77^ 

G  $27  00 


74  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

Amount  brought  up,  -  -  -  $  27  00 

Instead  of  this  enormous  sum  which  he  now  pays, 
he  would,  under  a  direct  tax,  have  to  pay  -  1 


Leaving  a  clear  gain  in  his  favour  of  -  $  26  00 
That  the  duty  system  operates  as  a  tax  upon  the  whole  na- 
tion, to  the  extent  of  sixty  millions  of  dollars  per  annum  at 
least,  that  is,  upon  an  average,  of  five  dollars  per  head  of  the 
whole  population,  can  easily  be  ascertained  by  any  one  who 
will  take  the  trouble  of  making  a  detailed  calculation  of  his  own 
expenses,  keeping  in  mind  that  whether  he  consumes  foreign  or 
domestic  commodities,  he  is  to  estimate  the  duty  charged  upon 
the  foreign  article,  as  a  part  of  the  price  he  pays  for  the  do- 
mestic acticle.  For  it  is  evident,  that  if  a  man  pays  for  a  yard 
of  domestic  muslin  ten  cents,  which,  were  it  not  for  the  pro- 
tecting duty,  he  could  purchase  for  eight  cents,  he  is  taxed  two 
cents,  or  twenty-five  per  cent.,  which  he  would  otherwise  es- 
cape. Thus  it  is  evident,  that  the  amount  of  duties  collected 
in  the  year,  is  no  evidence  whatever  of  the  amount  of  the  tax 
which  consumers  pay;  for,  were  the  case  otherwise,  the  ab- 
surdity would  exist,  of  supposing  that  the  higher  the  duty  the 
less  the  tax,  inasmuch  as  fewer  goods  would  be  imported  under 
high  duties,  than  under  low  duties. 

We  should  like  some  domestic  economist,  who  keeps  an  ac- 
count of  the  expenses  of  his  family,  to  furnish  us  with  an  accu- 
rate statement  of  the  articles  he  consumes  in  the  year,  with  a 
statement  of  their  cost  under  the  present  rates  of  duty,  and  of 
what  would  be  their  cost  if  there  were  no  duty.  Some  impor- 
tant and  striking  views  on  this  subject  of  indirect  taxation  might 
be  presented  to  the  people,  which  would  open  their  eyes,  and 
lead  them  to  regard  as  their  best  friends,  those  who  are  most 
anxious  to  see  them  relieved  from  all  burthens,  except  those 
which  are  absolutely  necessary  for  the  support  of  a  cheap  go- 
vernment, such  as  ours  ought  to  be. 


ESSAY    No.    XXIX. 


MARCH  27,  1830. 

Theory  of  the  balance  of  trade  being  proved  by  the  rate  of  ex- 
change on  England  to  be  against  the  United  Sates,  shewn  to 
be  fallacious.  Cause  of  the  nominal  high  rate  of  exchange 
pointed  out.     The  true  par  shewn. 

THE  Baltimore  Gazette  has  recently  re-published  a  pamphlet, 
entitled  "  Observations  on  the  Currency,"  which  is  full  of  those 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  75 

heresies  in  relation  to  the  balance  of  trade  and  the  rate  of  ex- 
change, that  must  ever  stand  in  the  way  of  any  correct  under- 
standing of  the  subject  of  currency.  The  writer  talks  of  the 
balance  of  trade  as  having  been  so  much  against  this  country 
at  one  time,  as  to  occasion  a  rise  in  the  price  of  bills  of  ex- 
change on  London  to  15  or  20  per  cent,  premium;  as  if  any 
merchant,  who  had  a  debt  to  pay  in  England,  would  throw 
away  so  large  a  sum,  when  he  could  send  the  money,  at  an  ex- 
pense of  two  per  cent.,  for  freight  and  insurance.  The  well 
known  fact  that  gold  and  silver  can  be  shipped  to  Europe  at  a 
cost  not  exceeding  one  and  a  half,  or  two  per  cent.,  ought  to 
put  at  rest  all  theories  which  teach  that  exchange  amongst  an 
intelligent,  speculating,  eagle-eyed,  mercantile  population,  can 
ever  depart  from  the  true  par,  above  or  below,  to  a  greater  ex- 
tent than  the  cost  of  trans-shipment  of  the  precious  metals. 

But  how  happens  it,  some  may  ask,  that  exchange  on  London 
is  now  quoted  in  the  prices  current  at  8  per  cent,  premium  ? 
The  answer  is  simple  enough.  The  currency  of  Great  Britain, 
for  all  sums  above  42  shillings,  is  gold;  in  the  United  States  it 
is  silver ;  and  as  the  quantity  of  gold  contained  in  the  British 
pound  sterling  (or  sovereign)  is  convertible,  not  only  in  En- 
gland, but  in  France,  and  in  all  other  parts  of  Europe,  South 
America  and  the  West  Indies,  and  even  in  this  country,  into  a 
greater  quantity  of  silver  than  is  contained  in  $4.44,  that  sum  is 
no  longer  the  par  upon  which  any  calculation  is  to  be  made  of 
the  rate  of  exchange.  All  estimates,  therefore,  which  assume 
$4.44  in  silver,  as  the  par  of  a  pound  sterling  in  gold,  will  of 
necessity  be  erroneous. 

That  this  position  is  true,  can  easily  be  seen  by  a  reference  to 
the  rate  of  exchange  on  France  and  Amsterdam,  where  the  cur- 
rency, as  with  us,  is  silver.  It  is  quoted  in  the  same  price  cur- 
rent, on  Paris,  at  5  francs  35  centimes  per  dollar,  that  is,  for 
one  silver  dollar  here,  a  bill  can  be  purchased,  which  in  France 
will  command  5f.  35c.  Now  what  is  the  par  of  a  dollar  esti- 
mated in  francs  ?  The  5  franc  piece  of  France  is  equivalent  by 
tale,  according  to  the  report  of  the  director  of  our  mint,  made 
in  January  1829,  to  93  hundredths  and  2  mills  of  a  dollar,  and 
consequently,  5  francs  35  centimes  are  equivalent  to  about  99f 
cents,  which  is  as  near  par  as  may  be,  taking  into  account  a 
small  difference  which  exists  in  the  purity  of  the  two  coins. 

On  Amsterdam,  the  exchange  is  quoted  at  39 ^|-  to  40  cents 
per  guilder.  The  par  of  the  guilder,  in  our  silver  currency,  is 
40  cents,  so  that,  taking  the  rate  of  39 ^  cents  per  guilder,  it  will 
appear,  that  for  forty  cents,  American  silver  money,  a  bill  can 
be  bought  on  Amsterdam  for  39|  cents  silver  money,  which  is 
an  advance  of  one  and  a  quarter  per  cent.  The  exchange  on 
Hamburgh  would  give  the  same  result.  Now  if  the  premium 
on  sterling  bills  did  not  arise  from  the  cause  we  have  assigned, 


76  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

would  not  our  merchants,  who  have  debts  to  pay  in  England, 
buy  bills  on  France,  Amsterdam,  or  Hamburgh,  which  they  can 
get  at,  or  near  par,  and  re-invest  the  amount  in  those  countries 
in  bills  on  England,  so  as  to  save  7  or  8  per  cent.  1  Most  as- 
suredly they  would.  The  reason,  therefore,  they  do  not  attempt 
it,  is,  that  they  find  in  France,  Amsterdam  and  Hamburgh,  that 
the  same  premium  is  demanded  for  bills  on  London  which 
they  would  have  to  pay  here,  and  arising  from  the  same  cause, 
to  wit,  that  the  relative  value  of  gold  and  silver,  in  all  the  mar- 
kets of  the  trading  world,  including  those  countries  where  they 
are  produced,  has  undergone  a  change,  and  that  an  ounce  of 
gold,  which,  twenty  years  ago,  was  worth  but  fifteen  ounces 
of  silver,  will  now  sell  for  sixteen  ounces,  or  thereabouts.  As 
further  proof  of  this,  let  the  British  prices  current  for  several 
years  past  be  examined,  and  it  will  be  seen  that  dollars  have 
been  generally  quoted  at  about  4s.  lOd.  per  ounce,  which  is 
equal  to  about  4s.  2d.  each  dollar.  At  this  rate,  a  British  pound 
sterUng,  or  sovereign,  will  purchase  in  England  4  silver  dollars 
and  80  hundredth  parts  of  a  dollar,  which  is  precisely  the 
amount  which  must  be  paid  in  the  United  States  for  a  bill  for 
this  very  pound  sterling.  Now  we  would  ask  any  sensible  man, 
if  a  bill  on  London  can  be  purchased  in  this  country  for  £100 
sterling,  by  the  payment  of  480  silver  dollars,  which  is  the 
amount  called  for  by  the  nominal  premium  of  8  per  cent.,  and 
if  the  said  bill  can  be  converted  in  London  into  exactly  480  sil- 
ver dollars,  whether  it  can  be  said  that  exchange  is  against  the 
country  1  And  if  not,  what  becomes  of  all  the  fallacy  about  the 
balance  of  trade,  upon  which  so  much  of  the  reasoning  of  the 
Baltimore  writer  is  founded  ?  It  all  vanishes  before  the  touch 
of  analysis,  as  we  shall  shew  upon  a  future  occasion. 

In  regard  to  the  15  or  20  per  cent,  premium  on  bills,  to 
which  the  writer  above  referred  to  alludes,  it  also  was  a  mere 
appearance,  and  not  a  reality.  It  arose  partly  from  the  cause 
we  have  just  explained,  but  chiefly  from  the  difference  between 
two  paper  currencies  of  different  degrees  of  depreciation.  We 
well  recollect  to  have  seen  bills  on  London  at  20  per  cent,  dis- 
count, and  afterwards  at  20  per  cent,  premium  ;  and  yet  dur- 
ing the  whole  of  this  fluctuation,  there  was  never  a  moment 
when  real  exchange  varied  more  than  2  or  3  per  cent.  In  one 
case  the  currency  of  Great  Britain  was  greatly  depreciated, 
whilst  ours  was  sound ;  and  in  the  other  case,  viz.,  in  the  year 
1815,  her  currency  had  become  greatly  restored,  whilst  ours 
had  become  inconvertible  paper. 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  77 


ESSAY     No.  X  X  X. 

APRIL  17,  1530. 

Importance  of  the  study  of  Political  Economy.  Duties  impo- 
sed by  the  act  of  1790  upon  various  commodities.  Fallacious 
reasoning,  employed  to  shew  that  free  trade  has  diminished 
the  navigation  of  England. 

THE  following  article  we  have  copied  from  a  Philadelphia 
paper : 

"  We  have  lately  seen  some  statements  made  at  a  meeting 
of  the  Hull  ship-owners  in  England,  held  '  to  take  into  consi- 
deration the  ruinous  effects  of  free  trade.'     The  results  in  Eng- 
land for  the  last  six  years,  are  as  follows : 
Value  of  cotton  manufactures  exported  in  the 

years  ending  5th  Jan.  1824,  1825,  1826,  £44,025,558 

Value,  &c.,  &c.,  in  the  years  ending  5th  Ja- 
nuary, 1827,  1828,  1829,         -         -         -  38,024,870 


Decrease  during  the  last  three  years,         -         -       6,000,688 

Value  of  linens  exported  in  the  years  ending 

5th  January,  1824,  1825,  1826,         -  -         6,668,718 

Value,  &c.,  &c.,  in  the  years  ending  5th  Ja- 
nuary, 1827,  1828,  1829,         -         -         -         -     5,382,881 


Decrease  during  the  last  three  years,         -         -       1,285,837 

Value  of  woollens  exported  in  the  years  end- 
ing 5th  January,  1824,  1825,  1826,  -         17,869,756 

Value,  &c.,  &c.,  in  the  years  ending  5th  Ja- 
nuary, 1827,  1828,  1829,         -         -         -  15,380,995 


Decrease  during  the  last  three  years,         -         -       2,488,761 

Value  of  silks  exported  in  the  years  ending  5th 

January,  1824,  1825,  1826,         -         -         -  1,090,137 

Value,  &c.,  &c.,  in  the  years  ending  5th  Ja- 
nuary, 1827,  1828,  1829,         -         -         -  660,203 


Decrease  during  the  last  three  years,         -         -  429,934" 

The  great  superiority  of  an  acquaintance  with  the  science  of 
political  economy,  over  mere  political  arithmetic,  consists  in 
this,  that  the  former  teaches  the  nature  of  the  causes  which  are 
calculated  to  produce  particular  effects,  whilst  the  latter  con- 
tents itself  with  a  mere  collection  of  statistical  facts,  which,  in 
themselves,  prove  nothing,  except  so  far  as  they  are  demon- 
strated to  be  the  results  of  known  specific  causes.  Hence, 
when  correct  statistical  tables  are  exhibited  to  the  political 
economist,  he  is,  from  a  knowledge  of  the  causes  which  are 
G* 


78  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

capable  of  producing  such  results,  enabled  to  assign  to  them 
their  true  origin.  He  is  not  left  in  doubt  as  to  what  nnight,  or 
what  might  not  have  produced  the  various  phenomena  which 
are  constantly  observable  in  the  operations  of  commerce ;  and 
as  he  is  as  well  acquainted  with  the  effects  which  will  result 
from  any  proposed  measure  before  it  be  adopted,  as  if  he  had  all 
the  advantage  of  experience  to  support  him,  he  is  better  quali- 
fied to  administer  the  affairs  of  a  government,  than  one  who  is 
not  capable  of  judging  of  the  tendency  of  a  measure  until  after 
it  has  been  tried,  and  who,  even  then,  is  not  capable  of  seeing 
that  an  effect  of  his  own  producing  did  actually  flow  from  his 
agency. 

Prior  to  the  year  1816,  the  American  Government  was  in 
the  hands  of  political  economists.  The  people  themselves  were 
political  economists.  During  the  early  period  of  our  existence 
as  an  independent  nation,  there  was  not  a  farmer  in  the  whole 
country  with  intellects  so  obtuse,  as  not  to  be  able  to  see,  that 
duties  upon  foreign  goods  were  taxes  upon  those  who  consum- 
ed them — that  high  duties  would  diminish  their  consumption — 
and  that,  consequently,  they  could  not  sell  as  much  flour,  and 
grain,  and  beef,  and  pork,  to  foreigners,  as  if  we  purchased 
more  of  their  productions.  This  sagacity  was  so  strong  and 
clear  sighted,  that  it  required  great  management  in  the  govern- 
ment to  coax  the  people  to  consent  to  pay  the  most  moderate 
duties  on  imports;  and  hence  we  find,  notwithstanding  the  whole 
weight  of  the  Revolutionary  debt,  duties  of  from  5  to  10  per 
cent,  upon  the  necessaries  of  life,  were  all  that  the  members  of 
Congress  found  it  politic  to  impose  upon  their  constituents. 
The  following  are  some  of  the  duties  imposed  by  the  act  of 
1790. 

Baizes,  5  per  cent. 

Blankets,  woollen,  5  do. 

Bonnets  and  hats  for  women,  5  do 

Brass,  manufactures  of,  5  do. 

Bridles,  saddles  and  harness,  7^. 

Cabinet  wares,  7^. 

Cables  and  cordage,  tarred,  100  cts.  per  cwt 

Carpets  and  carpeting  of  all  kinds,  7^. 

Chocolate,  5  per  cent. 

Clothing  ready  made,  7^  do. 

Composition  rods,  bolts,  spikes,  or  nails,  5  do. 

Copper,  manufactures  of,  7^  do. 

Coffee,  4  cts.  per  lb. 

Cordage,  untarred  and  yarns,  150  cts.  per  cwt 

Corks,  5  per  cent. 

Cotton,  manufactures  of,  7i  do. 

Flannels,  5  do. 

Flats  for  making  hats  or  bonnets,  5  do. 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  79 

Flax,  all  manufactures  of,  5  do. 

Floor  cloths,  mats,  &c.,  5  do. 

Glass,  window,  12^  do. 

Hats  of  beaver,  felt,  wool,  &c.,  7^  do. 

Hemp,  54  cts.  per  cwt. 

Iron,  slit  and  rolled,  anchors,  castings,  7^  per  cent. 

Nails,  1  cent  per  lb. 

Japanned  wares  of  all  kinds,  5  per  cent. 

Leather,  tanned  or  tawed,  and  manufactures  of,  7^  do. 

Lead,  in  bars,  pigs,  sheet,  shot,  1  cent  per  lb. 

Lead,  red  and  white,  10  per  cent. 

Manufactures  of  satins  and  silks,  7^  do. 

Do.  of  brass,  copper,  iron,  lead,  pewter,  steel,  or  tin,  7^  do. 

Millinery  ready  made,  7^  do. 

Molasses,  3  cts.  per  gallon. 

Mustard,  10  per  cent. 

Nankeens,  7^  do. 

Nutmegs,  10  do. 

Oil,  castor,  sallad,  linseed,  olive,  5  do. 

Paper,  10  do. 

Quills,  5  do. 

Raisins,  10  do. 

Shoes,  or  slippers  of  silk,  10  cts.  per  pair 

Stockings  of  wool,  5  per  cent. 

Do.  of  cotton  or  silk,  7^  do. 

Sugar,  brown,  H  cts.  per  lb. 

Sugar,  lump,  2^  do. 

Do.  loaf,  5  do. 

Spirits,  brandy,  gin,  &c.,  5  per  cent 

Teas,  10  to  32  cents  per  lb. 

Types  for  printing,  5  per  cent. 

Vinegar,  5  do. 

Wines,  20  to  35  cents  per  gallon 

As  soon,  however,  as  personal  and  party  politics  assumed  in 
the  estimation  of  the  people  a  character  of  more  importance 
than  measures  of  state  policy — as  soon  as  the  people  began  to 
think  that  the  elevation  of  particular  individuals  to  office  was 
of  more  consequence  than  the  advancement  of  the  interests  of 
the  nation ;  as  soon,  in  fine,  as  principles  were  sacrificed  to  a 
blind  devotion  to  men,  then  the  government  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  political  arithmeticians ;  and  we  accordingly  find,  that 
since  1816,  the  majority  in  Congress  has  uniformly  relied  upon 
figures  and  statistical  calculations,  rather  than  upon  reasoning, 
for  the  support  of  their  measures.  Now  as  this  class  of  politi- 
cians begin  to  reason  at  the  wrong  end — as  they  make  princi- 
ples accommodate  themselves  to  figures,  and  do  not  see  that 
figures  must  accommodate  themselves  to  principles,  they  are 
not  capable  of  drawing  correct  conclusions  from  any  given  pre- 


60  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

mises.  This  has  been  remarkably  the  case  in  reference  to  the 
statement  fjivcn  above  from  the  proceedings  of  the  Hull  ship- 
owners. They  ascertained,  that  the  value  of  the  cotton,  linen, 
woollen  and  silk  manufactures  exported  from  Great  Britain  in 
1827,  1828  and  182J),  was  less  than  the  amount  exported  in 
1824,  1825  and  1826;  and  inasmuch  as  the  principles  of  Free 
Trade  had  been  partially  adopted  within  the  last  six  years,  they 
conclude  that  this  falling  off  in  exports  has  resulted  from  the 
adoption  of  those  principles.  If  they  had  ascribed  it  to  any 
otJier  cause,  such  as  the  war  in  Greece,  the  death  of  the  last 
Pope,  the  earthquakes  in  Chili,  the  restoration  of  absolute  go- 
vernment in  Portugal,  or,  the  immense  flocks  of  wild  pigeons 
that  some  time  ago  flew  over  a  part  of  Pennsylvania,  all  of 
which  events  occurred  within  six  years,  their  reasoning  would 
have  been  quite  as  logical.  Each  of  these  occurrences  is  just 
as  capable  of  producing  the  falling  off  in  the  exports  referred  to, 
as  the  adoption  of  the  principles  of  Free  Trade ;  and  had  these 
ship-owners  of  Hull  used  a  little  common  sense,  and  before  they 
drew  their  conclusions  endeavoured  to  reflect  a  moment  whe- 
ther it  was  possible  that  a  policy  which  increases  imports  could 
diminish  exports,  they  would  not  so  readily  have  exposed  their 
ignorance  m  the  public  prints.  They  would  have  gone  to  work 
in  another  way,  and  they  w'ould  have  soon  discovered  that  their 
figures,  in  the  hands  of  those  who  know  how  to  trace  effects  up 
to  their  producing  causes,  and  to  discriminate  between  what 
can  and  what  can  not  produce  a  particular  result,  would  lead  to 
very  different  conclusions. 

We  are  not  sufficiently  acquainted  wath  all  the  circumstances 
which  in  England  may  have  combined  to  occasion  this  dimi- 
nution in  the  value  of  exports;  but,  assuming  that  the  state- 
ments are  correct,'  we  can,  at  the  first  blush,  name  two,  either 
of  which  was  capable  of  itself  of  producing  the  whole,  or  nearly 
the  whole,  of  the  reduction. 

The  first  is,  the  great  diminution  in  the  prices  of  cotton,  linen, 
woollen,  and  silk  manufactures,  which  has  taken  place  within 
the  last  three  years.  The  falling  off  in  the  exports  as  stated  is, 
upon  an  average,  a  little  less  than  15  per  cent.  Now  it  is  ma- 
nifest, that  if  the  diminution  of  the  cost  of  production  has  been 
equal  to  15  per  cent.,  a  diminution  in  the  imlue  is  no  evidence 
of  a  diminution  of  quantity.  But  what  has  been  the  fact  in  re- 
lation to  the  cost  of  producing  these  manufactures  ?  Why,  that 
the  reduction  has  been  greater  than  fifteen  per  cent.  In  cotton 
goods,  it  has  been  20  or  more ;  and  in  woollens,  it  has  been  pro- 
bably as  much,  owing  in  both  cases  to  a  fall  in  the  price  of  raw 
materials,  improvements  in  labour-saving  machinery,  &c. ;  and 
if  the  tables  of  quantity  could  be  referred  to,  we  will  venture  to 
assert,  that,  although  the  value  exported  may  have  been  di- 


OF     FREE     TRADE.  81 

minished,  yet  that  the  number  of  yards  must  have  been  greatly 
increased. 

The  second  is,  the  restrictive  laws  of  other  nations,  which 
have  had  a  tendency  to  diminish  the  demand  for  British  goods, 
and  which  might  have  occasioned  a  great  reduction.  Within 
three  years,  there  have  been  great  changes  in  this  respect,  in 
the  countries  to  which  Great  Britain  exports  a  large  portion  of 
lier  manufactures.  In  the  United  States  we  have,  as  is  well 
known,  imposed  restrictions  upon  the  importation  of  British  goods, 
to  a  very  great  extent.  In  Mexico,  cottons,  which  constitute 
the  great  mass  of  the  exports  of  the  above  table,  have  been  to- 
tally prohibited,  whilst  other  articles  have  had  the  duties  in- 
creased. In  Peru,  a  similar  prohibition  of  cotton  goods  atone 
time,  in  1829,  existed.  In  Colombia,  a  general  raising  of  duties 
took  place  in  the  same  year ;  and,  in  addition  to  this,  the  wars 
which  have  raged  within  the  last  three  years  in  all  the  states 
of  South  America,  without  a  single  exception,  have  all  had  a 
tendency  to  prevent  that  increased  demand  for  British  manu- 
factures, which  would  otherwise  have  taken  place.  Such 
would  be  the  deductions  of  sound  reason ;  but  the  ship-owners 
of  Hull,  like  the  philosophers  of  the  American  System,  under- 
took to  reason  upon  a  subject  the  nature  of  which  they  did  not 
understand,  and  thus  involved  themselves  in  the  folly  of  com- 
plaining of  the  very  policy  which  could  not  fail  to  promote  the 
navigating  interest. 


ESSAY    No.    XXXI. 


APRIL  21,  1830. 

Comments  on  a  speech  of  Mr.  Clay,  delivered  at  Natchez.  7wo 
markets,  the  ho7ne  and  foreign,  can  best  he  secured  by  free 
trade.  The  fall  in  the  prices  of  commodities  in  the  United 
States  since  the  year  1815,  shewn  not  to  have  been  occasion- 
ed by  the  restrictive  system. 

SINCE  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Clay  from  the  office  of  Secre- 
tary of  State,  we  have  never  noticed  in  any  of  his  speeches, 
any  other  than  general  observations  upon  the  benefits  of  the 
"  American  System,"  prior  to  the  one  delivered  at  a  public  din- 
ner at  Natchez,  on  the  18th  of  March,  as  we  have  seen  it  pub- 
lished in  the  National  Intelligencer.  Upon  that  occasion  he  en- 
tered upon  some  arguments  in  support  of  his  favourite  theory, 
and  has  thereby  laid  himself  open  to  that  just  criticism  upon  his 
doctrines,  which  is  alike  exempt  from  a  display  of  party  preju- 
dice, or  of  personal  asperity.    The  President  of  the  day,  in  his 


82  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

address,  in  alluding  to  Mr.  Clay,  used,  amongst  other  compli- 
mentary expressions,  this  language  : — "  He  has  ever  been  the 
firm  and  constant  advocate  of  domestic  industry  and  internal 
improvement :  and  however  individuals  may  differ  in  opinion 
as  to  some  of  those  questions,  Mr.  Clay  must  be  allowed  by  all, 
to  have  invariably  sought  for  the  interests,  and  advocated  the 
cause,  of  his  country."  In  this  expression  there  is  certainly 
nothing  to  warrant  the  idea,  that  the  company  present  on  the 
occasion,  was  favourable  to  the  tarifl' policy.  The  same  devo- 
tion to  the  interests  of  "  domestic  industry,"  for  which  Mr.  Clay 
was  complimented,  has  characterized  the  public  acts  of  all  our 
prominent  statesmen ;  and  where  they  have  differed,  it  has  not 
been  upon  the  point,  whether  "  domestic  industry"  should,  or 
should  not,  be  advocated,  but  whether  manufacturing  industry 
should  have  a  preference  over  agricultural  and  commercial  in- 
dustry ;  or,  whether  each,  being  like  the  others,  "  domestic  in- 
dustry," should  be  left  in  that  state  of  freedom  in  which  it  was 
placed  by  nature  and  the  constitution.  It  may  indeed  be  a 
question,  how  any  politician  can  be  said  to  be  in  favour  of  "  do- 
mestic industry,"  when  he  advocates  a  policy  which  depresses 
two  branches,  and  elevates  but  one  ;  and  especially  when  one  of 
the  depressed  branches  is  that  which  furnishes  occupation  and 
support  to  four-fifths  of  the  whole  nation.  But  so  it  is.  The 
farmers  themselves  have  been  silly  enough  to  suffer  themselves 
to  be  duped  into  the  belief,  that  there  is  no  domestic  industry 
but  spinning  and  weaving  in  large  factories,  and  we  are  there- 
fore not  to  be  surprised  that  this  admission  on  their  part  should 
be  employed  as  a  weapon  in  future  assaults  upon  their  interests. 
But  to  the  speech  : — 

Mr.  Clay  took  a  brief,  but  necessarily  general  view  of  the 
American  System,  to  which  allusion  had  been  made,  "  I  am 
aware,  Mr.  President,  he  said,  that  many  of  us  differ  widely, 
yet  honestly,  in  opinion  upon  this  subject.  I  would  not  obtrude 
my  opinions  unnecessarily  upon  others,  yet  I  trust  I  shall  be 
pardoned,  if  I  offer  one  or  two  remarks  upon  this  important 
measure.  When  it  was  first  brought  forward  in  Congress,  it 
was  urged  against  it,  that  the  country  was  not  prepared  for 
the  introduction  of  manufactures  to  any  great  extent — that  our 
territory  being  extensive,  our  soil  fertile,  stronger  inducements 
were  held  out  by  other  branches  of  industry — that  labour  com- 
manded a  higher  price  here  than  in  Europe — that  Great  Britain 
possessed  other  and  decided  advantages  over  us,  particularly 
in  the  skill  of  her  mechanics,  and  in  the  perfection  to  which 
she  had  brought  her  machinery — that  it  must  follow,  of  course, 
that  her  manufactures  would  be  cheaper  and  better.  The  ex- 
perience of  years,  [said  Mr.  C.,]  has  shown  the  fallacy  of  these 
predictions.  Not  only  have  they  been  proved  to  be  ground- 
less, but  the  argument  is  now  upon  the  other  side.     American 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  83 

manufactures  are  not  only  cheaper,  but  they  are  better,  being 
more  durable. 

"  The  subject,  Mr.  President,  appears  to  me  to  be  summed  up 
in  two  questions — one  in  relation  to  sale — the  other  to  pu7-- 
chase. 

"  How  is  it  in  relation  to  the  seller?  Sir,  I  put  the  simple  ques- 
tion— is  it  not  better  that  he  should  have  two  markets  than  ojie — 
a  home  market,  as  well  as  a  foreign  market?  Let  me  confine 
myself  to  the  staple  of  your  own  state.  You  complain,  and  not 
without  reason,  of  the  present  low  prices  of  cotton.  There  is 
a  surplus  of  the  raw  material  in  the  foreign  market,  and  the 
necessary  consequence  is,  a  depreciation  in  value.  But,  sir, 
what  would  be  the  result,  if  the  two  hundred  thousand  bales, 
which  are  now  consumed  by  the  home  manufacturers,  should  be 
thrown  into  the  foreign  market,  which  is  already  glutted? 
Why,  sir,  further  and  alarming  depreciation  in  price — the  con- 
sequence would  be  inevitable. 

"Now,  sir,  for  the  buyer — how  is  it  with  him?  Bring  forward 
any  article  you  please,  that  has  been  affected  at  all  by  the  ta- 
riff, and  let  us  see  if  the  price  has  not  been  reduced  since  the 
tariff  of  '24?  Sir,  I  challenge  the  investigation.  I  will  refer 
you  to  an  article,  which  at  this  moment  suggests  itself — it  may 
be  because  it  touches  individual  interest."  [Here  Mr.  Clay 
could  not  restrain  a  mutual  smile  with  a  gentleman,  who  at  the 
moment  caught  his  eye,  and  who  for  many  years  had  been 
Mr.  Clay's  agent  in  this  place  for  the  sale  of  Cotton  Bagging, 
which  was  the  article  to  which  he  referred.]  "  Formerly, 
Bagging  sold  at  from  thirty  to  forty  cents — it  is  now  selling  at 
eighteen  cents.  But,  Mr.  President,  I  cannot  enter  upon  the 
details  of  this  measure.  I  will  not  detain  you  longer.  Upon 
this  subject,  I  am  fully  aware  that  many  wise  and  honest  men 
are  radically  opposed  to  me  in  sentiment.  Sir,  I  have  not  the 
presumption  to  hold  up  my  opinion  as  infallible — it  may  be  that 
I  am  wrong.  But,  sir,  said  Mr.  C,  after  a  long  and  anxious 
observance  of  the  effects  of  the  "  American  System,"  not  only 
upon  the  immediate  objects  of  its  operation,  but  upon  other 
great  branches  of  our  national  industry — it  is  my  unshaken  opi- 
nion— it  is  my  solemn  belief — that  it  forms  one  of  the  great 
foundation  stones,  upon  which  alone,  the  independence  and 
prosperity  of  our  beloved  country  can  rest  securely." 

In  this  eulogium  upon  the  system  to  which  Mr.  Clay  has  al- 
lied his  future  fortunes  and  political  prospects,  |here  are  several 
erroneous  positions  and  fallacies  of  reasoning,  which  we  hardly 
expected  to  find  at  this  late  period  of  time.  These  we  shall 
undertake  to  point  out,  and  we  challenge  any  partizan  of  the 
American  System  to  refute  our  positions,  or  to  sustain  those  of 
Mr.  Clay,  by  proof  or  argument. 

The  first  position  of  Mr.  Clay,  to  which  we  object,  is  one  <>t 


84  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

fact,  and  is  found  in  that  expression,  wherein  he  lays  it  down 
as  a  matter  proved  by  the  experience  of  years,  and  admitting 
of  no  dispute,  that  American  manufactures  are  not  only  cheaper 
than  those  of  Great  Britain,  but  better.  This  declaration  will 
no  doubt  be  read  with  astonishment  by  many  who  are  acquaint- 
ed with  the  fact,  that  the  whole  tariff  policy  is  founded  upon  a 
denial  of  this  position.  High  duties  are  laid  wholly  and  solely 
because  foreign  manufactures  can  be  imported  into  the  coun- 
try, and  after  paying  freight,  commissions,  insurance,  mer- 
chants' profits,  and  a  moderate  revenue  duty,  can  be  sold  below 
the  price  at  which  the  same  articles  can  be  manufactured  in 
this  country.  Were  this  not  the  case,  why  should  the  manu- 
facturers and  their  friends  in  Congress  manifest  such  aversion 
to  touch  the  tarifl',  that  every  effort  of  the  friends  of  agriculture 
and  commerce,  during  the  present  session,  has  been  stifled  and 
put  down  by  an  arbitrary  vote  ?  Why  should  the  manufactur- 
ers urge  upon  Congress  the  adoption  in  this  country  of  a  sys- 
tem of  espionage  and  of  inquisitorial  persecution,  which  would 
do  honour  to  the  Holy  Inquisition  itself,  or  to  the  Dey  of  Al- 
giers, if  foreign  manufactures,  after  paying  all  expenses  of  im- 
portation, and  a  high  premium  for  the  risk  of  smuggling,  could 
not  be  sold  cheaper  than  our  manufacturers  can  sell  them? 
Why  should  the  same  party,  for  the  sake  of  preventing  the  re- 
duction of  duties,  which  the  people  anticipate  after  the  extin- 
guishment of  the  public  debt,  already  have  commenced  a  sys- 
tem of  expenditure  of  the  public  money,  which  shall  raise  up 
new  drafts  upon  the  public  purse  to  take  the  place  of  the  debt  ? 
Why,  in  fine,  should  the  whole  body  of  the  American  System 
party  anticipate  from  a  reduction  of  duties  an  overthrow  of 
their  whole  edifice?  The  answer  to  these  questions  is  too  plain  to 
be  misunderstood,  and  they  cannot  but  be  in  direct  opposition 
to  Mr.  Clay's  assumption.  To  attempt,  therefore,  to  bring  for- 
ward additional  testimony  to  disprove  this  position,  would  be 
an  insult  to  the  understandings  of  those  whom  we  address.  It 
would  be  like  bringing  forward  the  eleven  additional  reasons 
assigned  by  a  suitor  in  court  amongst  a  dozen,  to  account  for 
the  absence  of  a  witness,  after  having  stated  as  the  first  one,  that 
the  man  was  dead. 

Nor  will  Mr.  Clay  escape  the  imputation  of  having  laid  an 
erroneous  foundation  for  his  arguments,  by  mixing  up  the  qua- 
lity of  manufactures  with  their  price.  When  it  is  asserted,  that 
foreign  goods  can  be  sold  cheaper  than  domestic,  the  remark  is 
always  understood  as  having  reference  to  goods  of  the  same 
quality,  and  the  expression  therefore  of  better,  as  applied  by 
Mr.  Clay,  is  only  pushing  somewhat  further  his  doctrine  of 
cheapness ;  for  if  domestic  goods  are  not  only  cheaper  than 
foreign,  but  better,  they  are  doubly  cheap.  We  shall  conclude 
this  part  of  the  subject,  by  asserting,  what  we  think  will  not  be 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  85 

disputed.  Mr.  Clay's  doctrine,  that  American  manufactures 
are  cheaper  than  foreign,  is  true,  or  it  is  not  true.  If  it  is  true, 
there  is  no  necessity  for  a  continuance  of  the  high  duties ;  for 
in  that  case  our  manufactures  would  enjoy  that  natural  protec- 
tion which  is  afforded  by  their  superior  cheapness,  and  which 
it  would  not  be  in  the  pow-er  of  foreign  governments  to  over- 
throw or  disturb.  If  it  is  not  true,  then  it  must  follows  that  all 
reasoning  founded  upon  its  admission,  tails  to  the  ground.  This 
is  the  dilemma  in  which  Mr.  Clay  now  stands,  and  we  care  not 
which  of  its  horns  shall  be  selected  for  him. 

The  next  point  we  object  to,  is  one  of  fallacious  reasoning. 
It  is  the  doctrine  of  the  home  and  foreign  markets.  "Is  it  not 
better  that  we  should  have  two  markets  than  one — a  liome  mar- 
ket as  well  as  a.  foreign  market  ?"  To  this  question,  put  by  Mr. 
Clay,  the  universal  answer  must  be,  affirmative.  But  what  is 
the  policy  best  calculated  to  give  us  the  command  of  tw^o  mar- 
kets of  the  greatest  extent  ? — "  Prohibit  importations,"  says 
Mr.  Clay.  "  Reduce  your  duties,"  say  we.  Nations  which 
will  not  buy,  cannot  sell.  If  we  will  not  take  the  coffee  and 
sugar  and  rum  and  molasses  of  the  West  Indies  and  Brazil, 
they  cannot  take  our  flour,  our  beef,  pork,  hams,  lard,  butter, 
&c.  If  w^e  will  not  take  the  cotton,  woollen  and  iron  fabrics 
of  Great  Britain,  she  cannot  take  our  cotton,  tobacco  and  rice. 
If  all  foreign  imports  were  prohibited,  all  domestic  exports 
would  be  equally  prohibited,  unless  we  should  be  silly  enough 
to  give  away  our  property  for  nothing,  and,  consequently,  a  di- 
minution of  any  portion  of  our  foreign  imports  cannot  take 
place  without  a  diminution  of  an  equal  amount  of  our  domestic 
exports.  Exports  and  imports  are  as  necessarily  connected  as 
effect  and  cause.  One  cannot  exist  without  the  other,  and  if 
there  be  any  one  truth  of  economical  science,  which  cannot  be 
disputed  by  any  man  of  a  clear  and  logical  mind,  it  is,  that  com- 
merce is  an  exchange  of  equivalents.  Now,  if  these  positions 
be  true,  it  is  manifest,  that  restrictive  laws  which  diminish  im- 
ports, at  the  same  time  diminish  exports.  The  very  glut  of 
cotton  in  the  foreign  market,  spoken  of  by  Mr.  Clay,  is  the  re- 
sult of  our  diminished  demand  for  British  fabrics.  It  is  the 
same  sort  of  glut  that  the  manufacturers  of  cotton  bagging 
would  find,  if  they  were  to  refuse  to  take  in  exchange  for  it 
the  only  articles  which  the  cotton  planters  could  give  them. 
And  it  is  the  same  sort  of  glut  that  our  merchants  constantly 
find  at  the  islands  in  the  West  Indies,  to  which  they  export  flour 
and  other  agricultural  produce,  in  consequence  of  their  go- 
vernment's refusing,  by  high  duties,  to  permit  them  to  receive 
as  much  coffee,  sugar,  rum,  and  molasses,  the  only  articles 
which  the  West  India  planters  have  to  give,  as  they  would  be 
willing  to  let  us  have  in  exchange  for  our  produce. 

But  Mr.  Clay  thinks,  that  the  glut  of  cotton  in  the  foreign 
H 


86  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

market  would  be  increased  if  the  200,000  bales  now  supposed 
to  be  consumed  in  this  country,  were  to  be  thrown  into  it,  and 
that  the  price  M'ould  be  greatly  reduced.  Nothing  can  be 
clearer  than  this,  unless  indeed  the  duties  upon  foreign  manu- 
factures were  at  the  same  time  reduced  to  a  moderate  revenue 
scale ;  and  in  that  case,  we  would  venture  to  affirm,  thaf  the 
additional  supply  of  200,000  bales  in  a  year,  so  far  from  occa- 
sioning a  reduction  of  price,  would  be  followed  by  a  rise.  And 
why  ?  For  the  simple  reason,  that  a  demand  would  exist  in  this 
country  for  a  greater  quantity  of  foreign  fabrics  than  was  be- 
fore consumed,  inasmuch  as  the  consumption  would  increase  as 
the  price  declined,  and  inasmuch  as  there  are  no  limits  to  the 
extent  of  imports  into  a  country,  except  those  prescribed  by 
the  inability  to  sell,  which  inabihty  may  be  brought  about,  as 
we  have  shewn,  by  its  own  acts,  as  well  as  by  the  acts  of 
others. 

The  third  point  to  which  we  take  exception,  is  that  of  as- 
cribing to  the  operation  of  the  tariff  policy,  a  fall  in  the  prices 
of  commodities,  w'hich  is  a  position  resulting  from  fallacious  rea- 
soning. We  are  aware  that,  since  the  adoption  of  our  restrictive 
system,  a  great  fall  has  taken  place  in  the  prices  of  almost  every 
article  of  consumption.  We  are  also  aware,  that  advantage 
has  been  taken  of  this  fortuitous  circumstance  by  the  manufac- 
turers, to  impress  upon  the  public  mind  the  belief,  that  the  fall 
has  been  occasioned  by  the  tariff  policy,  and  millions  of  people 
now  in  these  United  States,  because  they  see  that  goods  are 
cheaper  now  than  they  were  fifteen  years  ago,  do  really  be- 
lieve that  they  are  cheaper  on  account  of  the  adoption  of  the 
American  System.  We  hardly  expected,  however,  that  any 
citizen  so  elevated  as  Mr.  Clay,  and  with  such  opportunities  of 
receiving  proper  light  on  this  subject,  could  have  suffered  him- 
self to  be  deceived  by  such  a  gross  fallacy.  It  seems,  how- 
ever, that  we  have  been  mistaken  ;  and  as  we  think  it  impor- 
tant that  those  who  aspire  to  high  stations  in  this  government, 
should  have  their  opinions,  upon  matters  that  are  connected 
with  the  welfare  of  the  people,  examined  with  the  same  free- 
dom as  those  of  more  humble  citizens,  we  shall  trespass  a  httle 
longer  upon  the  patience  of  the  reader. 

That  there  has  been  since  the  year  1815,  a  great  fall  in  the 
prices  of  foreign  commodities,  is  true.  It  is  observable  in  al- 
most every  article  of  necessity  and  comfort ;  in  woollen  cloths, 
silks,  cotton,  and  iron  fabrics  of  every  description,  in  teas,  wines, 
liquors,  coffee,  sugar,  salt,  &c. 

One  cause  of  this  fiill  was  the  change  from  a  state  of  war  to 
a  state  of  peace.  During  the  war,  all  foreign  commodities 
were  necessarily  enhanced  in  price,  on  account  of  the  increas- 
ed risk  and  expenses  of  importation ;  and  as  this  fact  is  known 
to  every  one,  it  needs  no  argument  to  support  it. 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  87 

A  second  cause  was  the  restoration  of  the  currency  from  a 
depreciated  paper  one,  to  a  sound  metallic  one.  This  cause 
alone,  without  the  aid  of  any  other  co-operating  causes,  would 
have  occasioned  a  reduction  in  the  price  of  every  article  con- 
sum.ed,  of  from  5  to  20  per  cent.,  according  to  the  state  of  the 
depreciation  in  different  places,  excepting  in  New  England 
alone,  where,  to  the  lasting  credit  of  the  banks  of  that  section 
of  country,  the  currency  was  maintained  sound  throughout. 

A  third  cause  was  that  gradual  diminution  in  the  cost  of  pro- 
ducing and  of  transporting  commodities,  raw  materials  as  well 
as  manufactures,  which  results  from  the  various  improvements 
made  in  all  tlie  branches  of  industry,  in  agriculture,  navigation, 
manufactures,  and  the  mechanic  arts,  from  the  slow  but  steady 
and  sure  progress  of  science,  skill,  education,  and  philosophy; 
and  which  will  go  on,  towards  the  effecting  of  further  reduc- 
tions in  the  cost  of  producing,  perhaps  for  ages  to  come.  This 
last  cause  has  had  an  universal  operation  all  over  the  world, 
whilst  the  two  first  named  have  been  peculiar  to  us,  or,  to  other 
nations  similarly  situated. 

A  fourth  and  last  cause  has  been  the  great  and  astonishing 
discoveries  in  the  art  of  labour-saving,  which  have  been  made 
within  fifteen  years,  and  especially  in  the  machinery  for  spin- 
ning and  weaving,  by  which  one  man  is  enabled  to  do  what 
formerly  required  perhaps  two  or  more,  and  which,  by  diminish- 
ing the  quantity  of  human  labour  required  to  produce  a  fabric, 
enables  the  producer  to  sell  it  cheaper  than  before,  inasmuch 
as  the  price  of  every  product  depends  upon  the  quantity  of  labour 
necessary  for  its  production.  This  is  the  great  cause  which  has 
occasioned  that  revolution  in  the  prices  of  woollen  and  cotton 
goods,  which  has  been  erroneously  ascribed  to  the  operation  of 
the  tariff;  and  it  is  a  cause  which  would  have  operated  whether 
our  tariff  policy  had  ever  been  adopted  or  not,,  owing  to  the 
great  competition  which  exists  amongst  the  individual  manu- 
facturers of  Europe,  to  undersell  one  another  in  the  markets  of 
the  world. 

That  this  is  the  case,  is  evident  from  the  fact,  that  notwith- 
standing the  fall  which  has  taken  place  since  1815,  foreign  goods 
woitld  he  much  cheaper  noic  than  domestic  ones  of  the  same  qnali- 
ty,ifthe  duties  were  to  he  reduced,  as  is  known  to  every  merchant 
who  purchases  foreign  goods  for  exportation ;  for  as  the  draw- 
back allowed  him  is  precisely  equal  to  the  amount  of  the  duty. 
he  knows  that  if  ihere  were  no  duty  charged,  the  price  of  the 
article  for  consumption  would  be  just  as  cheap  as  it  is  for  ex- 
portation. In  regard  to  the  article  of  cotton  bagging,  specifi- 
cally referred  to  by  Mr.  Clay,  who  it  seems  is  a  manufacturer 
of  this  article,  it  is  well  known  that,  although  its  price  may 
have  fallen  within  a  few  years,  from  the  causes  we  have  stated 
above,  from  30  to  40  cents  a  yard,  down  to  18  cents,  yet  it 


88  ESSAYS    Ox\    THE    PRINCIPLES 

would  he  five  cents  per  square  yard  cheaper,  ivere  it  not  for  the 
actual  duty. 

In  tliis  speech,  as  far  as  quoted  by  us,  there  is  but  a  single 
sentiment  in  which  we  coincide  with  the  orator,  and  which  is 
to  be  found  in  the  expression,  "  It  may  be  that  I  am  wrong." 
This  admission  is  somewhat  more  frank  than  we  are  accustom- 
ed to  see  from  the  advocates  of  the  tariff,  and  if  it  be  sincere,  as 
we  are  bound  to  suppose  it  to  be,  it  ought  to  operate  as  a  so- 
lemn w-arning  to  the  party  which  looks  to  Mr,  Clay  as  their 
leader,  and  to  induce  them  to  pause  and  reflect.  If  there  ex- 
ist a  doubt  as  to  the  policy  of  the  tariff'  on  one  side,  and  no 
doubt  whatever  on  the  other,  which  we  affirm  to  be  the  case;  and 
especially  if  this  absence  of  all  doubt  is  strengthened  by  a  mo- 
ral, steadfast,  and  perfect  conviction  that  the  tariff  is  also  ille- 
gal, unconstitutional,  and  oppressive ;  we  think  that  a  wise  and 
prudent  statesman  would  hesitate  before  he  should  resolve  to 
push  his  measures  to  an  extreme,  that  might  endanger  the  ex- 
istence of  the  government.  But  notwithstanding  this  avowal 
of  fallibility,  Mr.  Clay  is  still  of  opinion,  that  "  the  American 
System  forms  one  of  the  great  foundation-stones  upon  which 
alone  the  independence  and  prosperity  of  our  beloved  country 
can  rest  securely."  It  may  indeed  give  us  independence,  but 
it  will  be  the  independence  of  poverty  instead  of  the  independ- 
ence of  wealth — the  independence  of  beggary  instead  of  the 
independence  of  competency — the  independence  of  misery  in- 
stead of  the  independence  of  comfort — the  independence  of  idle- 
ness instead  of  the  independence  of  constant  employment. 
That  this  is  the  sort  of  independence  which  Mr.  Clay  desires, 
"we  do  not  believe,  notwithstanding  he  states,  exphcitly,  that 
he  has  arrived  at  his  conviction  from  a  "  long  and  anxious  ob- 
servance of  the  eflccts  of  the  American  System,  not  only  upon 
the  immediate  objects  of  its  operation,  but  upon  other  great 
branches  of  our  national  industry." 

Now  let  us  examine  and  see  what  have  been  the  effects  of 
the  American  System.  According  to  Mr.  Niles'  repeated  de- 
clarations, the  manufacturers  of  woollens  are  nearly  all  ruined, 
and  the  owners  of  sheep  have  been  obliged  to  deliver  over  their 
flocks  to  the  slaughter.  The  cotton-spinners  and  weavers  in 
various  parts  of  the  union  have  been  obliged  to  suspend  their 
works,  to  make  immense  sacrifices  of  their  goods,  and  hundreds 
of  them  have  been  totally  prostrated.  The  distillers  of  rum  in 
New  England  have  been  nearly  all  broken  up.  The  manufac- 
turers of  iron,  as  has  been  proved  irrefutably  before  Congress, 
and  as  we  have  shewn  in  this  payier,  have  been  thrown  out  of 
employment  at  the  rate  of  probably  five  for  every  one  employ- 
ed by  the  iron  masters.  The  rope-makers,  ship-carpenters, 
smiths,  riggers,  sail-makers,  plumbers,  mast-makers,  block- 
makers,  stevidores,  ship-joiners,  painters,  dray  and  cart-men, 


OF     FREE     TRADE.  89 

have  been  deprived  of  employment,  in  consequence  of  the  high 
duties  obliging  the  merchants  to  send  their  ships  to  Europe  to 
be  rigged  and  fitted  with  sails.  The  ship-owners  have  seen  their 
ships  rotting  at  the  wharves.  The  farmers  have  experienced  a 
diminished  demand  for  produce  of  every  description.  The 
planters  have  sustained  a  loss  of  millions  by  the  fall  in  the  price 
of  cotton.  People  have  been  driven  from  wines  and  foreign 
spirits  to  whiskey,  and  have  abandoned  temperance  for  excess. 
Honest  men  have  been  converted  into  smugglers,  and  finally, 
a  crisis  has  been  brought  upon  the  country,  of  a  nature  so  se- 
rious, that  nothing  like  it  has  been  seen  since  the  year  1775. 
Now  if  this  state  of  things  be  one  of  independence,  it  is  such  an 
independence  as  we  hope  the  nation  will  not  long  continue  to 
enjoy ;  and  we  do  altogether  deny  it  to  be  such  a  one,  as  that 
the  "  prosperity  of  our  beloved  country  can  rest"  upon  it  se- 
curely. If  any  of  the  positions  or  reasoning  that  we  have 
herein  advanced  can  be  controverted,  we  should  be  glad  to  see 
any  friend  of  Mr.  Clay  point  out  their  defects,  and  we  offer  the 
free  use  of  our  columns  to  any  gentleman  who  may  be  inclined 
to  use  them  for  the  purpose.  Our  object  is  the  development  of 
truth;  and  if  the  supporters  of  the  "American  System"  cannot 
uphold  their  doctines  by  any  more  sound  arguments  than  those 
employed  by  Mr.  Clay,  in  the  article  we  have  quoted,  they 
must  be  prepared  to  anticipate  the  downfall  of  their  fabric. 
The  public  mind  is  daily  becoming  more  and  more  enlighten- 
ed. The  mists  and  delusion  which  have  overspread  the  land 
are  fast  dispersing ;  and,  to  our  view,  the  day  is  not  distant, 
when  the  nation  will  awake  as  from  a  dream,  to  its  true  inte- 
rests, and  will  acknowledge  that  domestic  industry  is  not  con- 
fined to  spindles  and  looms,  but  that  agriculture  and  commerce 
are  equally  domestic  industry,  when  carried  on  by  American 
citizens,  as  manufactures,  and  entitled  to  equal  protection,  viz., 
the  protection  which  can  only  result  from  leaving  them  all  as 
free  and  unshackled  as  they  can  possibly  be  left,  consistent 
with  the  collection  of  a  revenue  adequate  to  the  support  of  an 
economical  government. 


ESSAY    No.    XXXII. 

APRIL  24,  1830. 


General  Smith's  Report  on  the  Currency,  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States.  Influence  of  the  banking  system  under  cash 
payments.  Causes  which  check  the  excessive  issue  of  bank 
notes.     Doctrine  of  the  true  par  of  exchange  on  England. 

WE  publish  to-day  the  Report  of  General  Smith,  chairman 
of  the  Committee  on  Finance,  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
H* 


90  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

upon  the  subject  of  a  national  currency.  It  is  a  sound,  sensible 
and  ortiiodox  })roduction,  whicli  docs  great  credit  to  the  com- 
mittee, and  displays  a  lull  acquaintance  with  the  important 
subject  to  which  it  relates.  There^  is  indeed  no  safety  in  any 
system  of  currency,  but  one  which  has  for  its  basis  the  precious 
metals ;  nor  can  there  be  safety  in  any  banking  institutions  ad- 
ministered by  government,  or  their  agents.  The  expansive 
power  of  a  mixed  currency  can  only  be  securely  trusted  to  in- 
dividual interest,  and  even  here  there  is  a  necessity  for  much 
caution  in  the  framing  of  charters  of  incorporation,  so  as  to  ren- 
der the  obligation  of  a  punctual  payment  of  their  notes,  on  the 
part  of  banks,  too  imperative  to  be  triHed  with. 

We  agree  with  the  chairman  of  the  committee,  that  a  more 
uniform  currency  throughout  an  extended  country,  cannot 
exist,  than  the  one  which  now  prevails  throughout  all  those 
parts  of  the  United  States  where  the  local  banks  do  really  pay 
their  notes  when  called  upon,  in  coin;  for,  if  an  individual  in 
any  one  of  the  states  holds  the  note  of  a  bank,  he  can  convert 
it  at  pleasure  into  an  equal  amount  of  coin ;  and  no  more  cer- 
tain equivalency  can  exist,  than  that  which  exists  between  a 
silver  dollar  in  the  pocket  of  a  man  at  New  Orleans,  and  a  silver 
dollar  in  the  pocket  of  a  man  at  Passamaquoddy.  Where  there 
is  in  fact  a  real  bona  fide  cash  payment  by  the  banks,  without 
the  exercise  on  their  part  of  any  disposition  to  influence  the 
holders  of  their  notes,  through  fear,  favour  or  afiection — and 
where  there  is  on  the  part  of  the  public,  no  fear  of  offending 
bank-directors,  or  of  exciting  their  vengeance  in  the  form 
of  withholding  discounts — the  currency  must  needs  every  where 
be  sound,  and  consequently  equivalent,  for  a  hard  dollar  is  a 
hard  dollar  all  the  world  over.  Occasions  may  indeed  occur, 
in  which  a  convertible  currency  shall,  for  a  time,  be  depreci- 
ated, but  it  cannot  long  continue  so.  If,  for  example,  one  of 
the  banks  in  Philadelphia  should  issue  to-day  an  undue  propor- 
tion of  notes,  the  excess  would  return  for  payment  to-morrow, 
through  the  other  banks,  with  the  unerring  certainty  of  fate. 
And  if  all  the  banks  of  Philadelphia  should  do  the  same  thing, 
and  issue  an  excessive  quantity  of  paper,  so  as  to  depreciate 
the  currency  of  that  city  below  the  level  of  the  currencies  of 
the  other  cities,  the  evil  could  last  but  a  short  time.  The  ef- 
fect would  be,  that  all  prices  would  rise  in  Philadelphia.  Bills 
of  exchange  upon  foreign  countries,  and  public  stocks,  would 
rise  first,  and  the  consequence  would  be,  that  the  brokers  of 
New  York  and  BaUimore,  whose  business  it  is  to  watch  cur- 
rencies as  well  as  market  prices,  would  soon  send  on  for  sale, 
from  their  cheap  markets,  a  suflicient  amount  of  those  articles 
to  throw  the  Philadelphia  banks  into  debt  to  the  New  York 
and  Baltimore  banks,  which  debts  they  would  be  obliged  to  li- 
quidate in  coin.     This  is  the  machinery  which  is  in  constant 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  91 

operation  to  prevent  excessive  issues.  Each  individual  bank 
in  a  city  imposes  a  check  upon  all  the  rest.  The  aggregate 
number  of  banks  of  one  city,  impose  a  check  upon  the  banks 
of  another  city ;  and  the  whole  mass  of  banks  of  one  entire 
country  have  a  check  imposed  upon  them  by  the  general  level 
of  currencies  throughout  the  trading  w^orld ;  which  must  needs 
regulate  the  course  of  exchange,  and  say,  in  effect,  "  Thus  far 
shall  thou  go  and  no  farther." 

As  to  the  idea  entertained  by  some  people,  because  a  man  in 
Missouri,  who  has  a  horse-load  of  Spanish  dollars,  cannot  find 
any  body  who  will  carry  them  all  the  way  to  Philadelphia  for 
him,  and  there  give  him  the  same  quantity  of  Spanish  dollars, 
without  charging  him  any  thing  for  his  trouble  and  expenses, 
that  therefore  the  currency  is  not  equivalent,  is  too  absurd  to 
merit  an  argument.  Between  two  places,  at  w^hich  the  cur- 
rency is  equally  sound,  there  will  needs  be  at  times  a  rate  of 
exchange  for  or  against,  and  bank  notes  when  they  travel  be- 
yond the  mere  precincts  of  the  institution  by  which  they  are  is- 
sued, perform  the  functions  of  small  bills  of  exchange.  When 
they  cannot  therefore  at  a  distance  from  home,  be  converted 
into  coin  at  par,  it  proves  nothing  as  affects  the  currency,  but 
merely  shews  that,  in  that  particular  place,  there  are  at  the 
time  more  buyers  than  sellers  of  small  bills  of  exchange. 

In  General  Smith's  Report,  we  are  particularly  pleased  with 
the  satisfactory  manner  in  which  he  proves  the  soundness  of 
the  currency,  by  the  rate  of  exchange  on  England.  His  eluci- 
dation is  clear,  philosophical,  and  indisputable,  and  should  be 
read  by  all  who  wish  to  free  themselves  from  the  delusive  idea, 
that  the  balance  of  trade  is  shewn  to  be  against  the  country,  by 
the  nominal  high  rate  of  exchange.  General  Smith  shews,  and 
shews  truly,  that  although  bills  on  London  are  quoted  at  8  to 
9  per  cent,  advance,  they  are  in  reality  heloxo  par ;  and  so  far 
as  exchange  proves  any  thing  on  the  subject,  it  proves  that  the 
balance  of  trade  is  and  has  been  for  a  long  time  in  favour  of  the 
country.  This  is  a  matter  of  great  importance  to  be  under- 
stood, and  as  it  is  a  very  simple  one,  it  is  within  the  scope  of 
the  comprehension  of  the  most  simple  mind. 

If  two  men  should  be  talking  of  the  temperature  of  the  wea- 
ther, as  proved  by  a  thermometer,  every  body  would  admit, 
that  it  would  be  necessary  for  them  to  agree  upon  a  particular 
degree  of  heat  or  cold  as  the  starting  point  of  their  argument. 
We  will  now  suppose,  that  one  of  them  asserts  that  the  cold  is 
ten  degrees  above  zero,  and  that  the  other  insists  upon  it  that 
the  cold  is  little  more  than  ten  degrees  below  zero.  It  would 
be  impossible  for  them  to  settle  the  dispute  in  any  other  w^ay 
than  by  agreeing  that  they  would  be  governed  by  the  same 
standard.  Upon  reference  to  Fahrenheit,  wdio  takes  his  zero 
at  32  degress  below  freezing  point,  it  is  found  that  the  former 


92  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

is  right.  Upon  reference  to  Reaumur,  who  takes  his  zero  at 
freezing  point  and  makes  a  different  scale  of  degrees,  it  is  found 
that  the  latter  is  right.  No  difference  between  them  could  af- 
terwards exist,  for  they  would  find  it  necessary  in  all  future 
discussions  to  understand,  before-hand,  a  common  point  to  start 
from. 

The  question  of  exchange  stands  precisely  upon  the  same 
footing.  A  certain  class  of  reasoners  say,  that  exchange  is 
above  par.  General  Smith  says,  it  is  below  par.  Where  is 
the  starting  point?  It  is  the  value  of  a  silver  dollar  in  British 
gold  currency,  in  which  our  debts  are  contracted  and  made 
payable.  The  class  of  reasoners  referred  to,  say,  a  dollar  is 
4s.  6d.  sterling.  General  Smith  says  it  is  not,  and  General 
Smith  is  right,  and  in  support  of  his  position  brings  forward  the 
London  prices  current  to  shew,  that  silver  dollars  are  there  only 
worth  4s.  l^d,  each.  The  fact  is,  that  Spanish  dollars  are  not 
a  legal  tender  in  England  at  any  fixed  value,  and  they  are  con- 
sequently worth  no  more  than  they  will  sell  for  in  the  market, 
and  consequently  all  calculations  which  take  4s.  6d.  as  the 
basis  of  their  value,  is  starting  at  a  wrong  zero.  But  does  not 
our  act  of  Congress  say,  that  $4.44  are  equivalent  to  a  British 
pound  sterling  ?  And  suppose  an  act  of  Congress  were  to  say, 
that  the  moon  was  made  of  green  cheese,  would  that  alter  the 
fact,  whatever  it  might  be  ?  It  is  enough  for  us  to  know,  that 
no  British  law  says  any  such  thing,  and  as  the  British  manu- 
facturers who  sell  us  their  merchandise,  have  a  good  deal  more 
to  say  in  the  matter  than  we  have,  we  must  not  lose  sight  of 
the  principle  that  it  takes  two  to  make  a  bargain.  Our  Con- 
gress has  a  right  to  say,  that  in  estimating  the  imposts  upon 
British  invoices  which  pay  ad  valorem  duties,  the  pound  ster- 
ling shall  be  reduced  into  currency  as  the  equivalent  of  $4.44. 
This  it  has  done,  and  nothing  more ;  but  such  local  legislation 
cannot  affect  the  question  of  equivalency  in  England.  There, 
the  pound  sterling  is  the  equivalent  of  $4,85  within  a  small 
fraction,  as  is  proved  from  the  fact  that  a  dollar  is  worth  but 
49^  pence,  and,  consequently,  one  pound  sterling  would  pur- 
chase 4  dollars  and  85  hundredth  parts  of  a  dollar.  No  sophis- 
try can  stand  up  against  these  facts,  and  it  is  therefore  too 
clear  to  admit  of  a  doubt,  that,  estimating  exchange  at  the  true 
par,  the  rate  will  be  found  to  be  in  our  favour.  This  can  be 
proved  thus : — 

A  bill  of  exchange  on  London,  for  £100,  can  be 
procured  at  -  .  .  -  $444  44 

With  the  addition  of  8  per  cent,  premium,  which 
add,  -  -  -  -  -  33  33 

Making  -  -  -  -  477  77 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  93 

Which  said  bill  will  procure  in  London,  accord- 
ing to  the  above  quotation  of  dollars,  at  49^  pence 
each  ...  .  .  484  85 


Leaving  a  balance  of      -  -  -  -  7  08 

equal  to  a  profit  of  very  near  one  and  a  half  per  cent. 

This  is  the  true  view  of  the  subject,  and  the  nation  is  under 
obligations  to  General  Smith  for  bringing  this  important  illus- 
tration of  a  matter,  so  little  understood  even  by  merchants,  into 
the  view  of  the  public,  in  a  document,  which,  from  its  official 
character,  will  have  a  circulation  equal  to  one  hundred  times 
that  of  any  private  essay  or  treatise  that  could  be  written  on 
the  subject. 


ESSAY   No.   XXXI IL 

APRIL  28,  1830. 


Bill  reducing  the  duties  on  tea,  coffee,  and  cocoa.     First  step 
towards  the  overthroiv  of  the  high  duty  system. 

IT  will  have  been  perceived  by  the  proceedings  of  Con- 
gress, that,  on  the  21st  instant,  the  bill  to  reduce  the  duties  on 
teas,  coffee  and  cocoa,  passed  the  House  of  Representatives  by 
a  vote  of  163  to  5.  The  reduction  of  the  duty  on  teas,  is  to 
take  effect  after  the  31st  of  December,  1831,  and  will  diminish 
the  rates  per  pound  as  follows  : 

Upon  Imperial,  Gunpow^der,  and  Gomee,  from  50  to  25  cts. 
Old  Hyson  and  Young  Hyson,         -         20       18 
Hyson  Skin  and  other  green,  -         28       12 

Souchong,  and  other  black,  (except  Bo- 

hea,)  -  -  -  25       10 

Bohea,  -  -  -  12         4 

Upon  coffee,  the  reduction  is  to  take  effect  from  the  31st  of 
December,  1830,  from  5  cents  per  pound,  (which  is  nearly  one 
hundred  per  cent,  on  its  cost  in  the  West  Indies  and  Brazil,) 
to  2  cents,  and  after  the  31st  December,  1831,  to  1  cent. 

Upon  cocoa,  the  reduction  is  to  take  effect  from  the  31st  of 
December,  1831,  from  two  cents  to  1  cent  per  pound. 

This  measure  may  be  regarded  as  the  first  step  towards  a 
repeal  of  the  present  burthensome  system  of  taxation  by  high 
duties,  by  which  the  American  people  are  more  heavily  op- 
pressed than  any  other  nation  on  earth.  The  almost  entire 
unanimity  of  the  vote  places  beyond  a  doubt  the  universal  con- 
viction of  the  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  that 
high  duties  are  a  tax  upon  consumers — a  proposition  self-evi- 
dent, one  would  suppose,  but  which  has  been  over  and  over  again 


94  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

demed  by  the  advocates  of  the  protecting  policy,  when  asserted 
in  reference  to  manufactures.  By  this  vote  the  friends  of  free 
trade  liavc  gained  much.  They  have  gained  in  principle  and 
they  have  gained  in  reputation.  They  have  shown  to  the  na- 
tion that  they  are  the  true  friends  of  the  people ;  that  they  are 
the  enemies  of  taxation,  except  for  the  necessary  support  of 
government — and  as  evidence  of  their  sinceiity,  they  have 
shown  their  willingness  to  discuss  every  question  upon  its  own 
merits.  Had  they  acted  upon  the  principle  which  brought  the 
American  System  into  being,  they  would  have  opposed  the  re- 
duction of  duties  upon  teas  and  cofiee,  for  fear  of  w'eakening 
the  strength  of  their  party,  and  would  have  voted  for  the  re- 
duction of  no  duty  unless  they  could  have  obtained  the  reduc- 
tion of  the  whole.  They  perceive  that,  as  no  one  duty  had  a 
majority  of  Congress  in  its  favour,  so  neither  one  will  have  a 
majority  in  favour  of  sustaining  it ;  and  they  feel  perfectly  as- 
sured, that  an  edifice,  which  was  put  together  by  such  impro- 
per, injudicious,  and  mischievous  combinations,  would  fall  to 
pieces,  stone  by  stone,  if  the  question  upon  each  single  duty 
could  be  fairly  tested  and  honestly  voted  on.  But  although  a 
successful  issue  to  the  efforts  of  the  enemies  of  taxation  cannot 
be  looked  for  at  the  present  session  of  Congress,  in  reference  to 
other  matters,  yet  we  are  perfectly  convinced  that  our  pros- 
pects are  brightening.  We  are  told,  that  in  the  Western  coun- 
try the  debate  in  the  Senate  upon  State  rights,  the  circulation 
of  Mr.  Cambreleng's  report  on  commerce,  and  the  extensive 
discussions  which  have  been  going  on  all  over  the  Union,  in 
reference  to  the  tariff  policy,  have  produced  a  powerful  effect 
upon  the  public  sentiment ;  and  there  is  to  be  seen  abundant 
evidence  of  a  w-eakened  confidence  in  the  durability  of  the 
scheme  of  taxation  miscalled  the  American  System.  The  re- 
duction of  the  duties  on  coffee,  cocoa,  and  tea,  when  they  shall 
begin  to  operate,  cannot  fail  to  give  a  foretaste  of  the  blessings 
of  free  trade,  and  we  are  firmly  persuaded,  that  as  soon  as  the 
people  discover,  as  they  assuredly  will,  that  this  reduction 
makes  these  articles  cheaper,  and  increases  the  demand  for 
those  agricultural  productions  which  we  exchange  directly  for 
coffee  and  cocoa,  and  which  we  ship  to  Mexico,  South  Ameri- 
ca, the  West  Indies,  and  Europe,  for  the  purpose  of  procuring 
the  dollars  with  which  we  pay  for  our  teas,  they  will  cry  out 
for  an  extension  of  the  blessing,  and  insist  upon  being  clothed 
cheap,  as  well  as  being  fed  cheap.  Like  the  bear  that  has 
once  got  a  taste  of  the  honey,  they  will  not  rest  satisfied  until 
they  overturn  the  hive  and  come  into  full  possession  of  its  trea- 
sures. 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  95 

ESSAY  No.    XXXIV. 

APRIL  28,  1830. 

Twofold  operation  of  the  tariff.  It  diminishes  imports,  and  it 
diminishes  exports.  High  duties  fall  heavier  upon  the  con- 
sumers in  the  interior,  than  upo7i  those  on  the  seaboard.  The 
cotton,  rice,  and  tobacco  planters  more  injured  by  the  pro- 
tective system,  than  the  growers  of  other  products. 

THE  people  of  the  South,  it  is  well  known,  loudly  complain  ' 
of  the  operation  of  the  tariff  system  upon  their  interests,  and 
we  hear  the  question  frequently  asked,  Why  should  they  repre- 
sent their  sufferings  to  be  greater  than  those  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  other  states,  seeing  that  if  high  duties  are  a  tax  upon 
consumers,  they  pay  no  more  than  their  share  ?  This  is  a  ques- 
tion of  some  importance,  and  merits  a  brief  examination ;  for 
if  it  can  be  made  to  appear,  that  the  cotton  growers  are  no 
more  injured  than  other  classes  of  citizens,  their  complaints  will 
not  be  entitled  to  as  much  sympathy,  as  an  opposite  result 
Would  give  them  a  fair  claim  to. 

The  high  duty  system  works  two  ways  upon  the  nation  that 
adopts  it.  In  the  first  place,  it  diminishes  imports  ;  in  the  se- 
cond place,  it  diminishes  exports.  These  positions  we  shall 
undertake  to  prove. 

It  diminishes  imports,  by  raising  the  price  of  the  imported 
commodity  to  the  consumer.  No  nation  can  afford  to  consume 
as  many  foreign  goods  at  high  prices  as  at  low  prices,  and  for 
the  same  reason,  that  no  individual  can  afford  to  buy  as  many 
goods  at  high  prices  as  at  low  prices,  since  every  man's  in- 
come is  limited,  and  the  extent  to  which  he  can  buy,  is  limited 
by  his  income.  This  proposition  one  would  suppose  would  be 
self-evident.  It  is  so  to  a  man  who  earns  a  dollar  a  day,  and 
who  knows  that  he  cannot  afford  to  buy  as  many  coats  in  a 
year,  if  the  cloth  costs  him  two  dollars  a  yard,  as  if  it  cost  him 
but  one  dollar.  But  it  is  not  so  to  many  of  those  who  fancy 
themselves  to  be  statesmen,  and  who  tell  you  that  high  duties 
do  not  diminish  commerce ;  and  it  is  for  their  benefit  that  we 
have  undertaken  to  prove  what,  in  our  estimation,  requires  no 
more  argument  to  support,  than  that  six-pence  will  not  buy  as 
much  as  a  shilling. 

The  tariff"  system  diminishes  exports,  in  consequence  of  its 
depriving  foreign  nations  of  the  power  to  pay  for  them.  If  a 
man  who  has  an  article  for  sale,  refuses  to  take  in  exchange 
for  it  the  only  commodities  which  others  have  to  offer,  he  can- 
not possibly  sell.  He  may  give  away,  if  he  chooses,  but  this 
would  be  a  game  at  which  he  could  not  long  afford  to  play. 
The  same  is  the  case  with  a  nation.     If  she  will  not  buy,  she 


96  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

cannot  sell.  It  will  be  admitted,  we  think,  that  commerce  is 
an  exchange  of  equivalents ;  that  is,  of  commodities  of  equal 
value  at  the  places  where  the  exchanges  are  made.  Now  if  a 
nation  imports  foreign  articles  to  the  extent  of  fifty  millions  of 
dollars,  can  she  do  this,  but  in  consecjuence  of  selling  fifty  mil- 
lions of  dollars  worth  of  her  produce  1  The  answer  must  be  in 
the  negative.  And  if  the  proposition  be  true  in  whole,  must  it 
not  be  true  in  part  1  If,  for  example,  she  refuses  to  purchase  be- 
yond the  extent  of  twenty-five  millions  of  dollars,  must  not  her 
exports  be  at  the  same  time  reduced  to  twenty-five  millions  ? 
Here  we  shall  be  told,  by  some  who  only  think  superficially  on 
such  subjects,  that  it  by  no  means  follows  that  her  exports 
would  be  diminished ;  for  that  foreign  nations  would  give  her 
gold  and  silver  for  the  overplus.  To  render  such  a  doctrine  as 
this  admissible,  the  possibility  of  such  payments,  in  gold  and  sil- 
ver, must  be  established.  Great  Britain  exports  in  a  year  to  this 
country,  manufactures  of  cotton,  wool,  iron,  &c.,  to  the  amount 
of,  say  twenty-five  millions  of  dollars,  and  takes  in  exchange 
for  them,  chiefiy  cotton,  tobacco,  and  rice.  Now  suppose  she 
w^ere  to  say  to  the  United  States,  "  I  will  only  take  hereafter 
from  you  half  the  quantity  of  cotton,  tobacco,  and  rice,  that  1 
now  take ;  you  must  pay  the  balance  in  money."  Where 
would  this  money  come  from  ?  Would  not  the  trade  instantly 
be  reduced  one  half?  And  what  is  true  in  this  case,  is  true  in 
all  others.  It  would  even  be  true  with  Mexico  and  Peru ;  for 
even  those  gold  and  silver  producing  countries  can  furnish  but 
a  very  small  proportion  of  the  quantity  that  would  be  required 
to  make  such  enormous  payments  as  the  doctrine  advanced 
calls  for.  To  our  mind  it  is  as  clear,  as  that  two  and  two  are 
four,  that  for  every  diminution  of  imports,  there  is,  pro  tanto,  a 
diminution  of  exports ;  that  the  two  are  just  as  inseparable  as 
cause  and  effect ;  and  that  a  law  which  says,  you  shall  dimi- 
nish your  imports,  pronounces,  in  the  same  words,  you  shall  di- 
minish your  exports.  These  two  points  being  then  established, 
as  we  believe,  let  us  see  how  each  operates. 

We  have  shewn  that  high  duties  raise  prices,  or  (if  they 
happen  to  be  laid,  as  ours  have  been  since   1816,  during  the 
operation  of  causes  which  have  been  annually  bringing  down 
the  costs  of  production,)  what  is  the  same  thing,  they  prevent 
prices  from  being  as  low  as  they  would  otherwise  be.     These 
duties  operate  as  a  tax  upon  all  consumers.     Each  consumer 
pays  exactly  in  proportion  to  the  quantity  he  consumes,  with 
[this  modification,  that  the  tax  falls  heaviest  upon  covsumers 
\jvho  live  at  a  distance  from  the  seaports,  inasmuch  as  the  profits 
of  merchants  in  the  country  are  higher,  owing  to  the  deficiency 
of  capital,  than  on  the  seaboard ;  and  beside  the  duty,  the  con- 
sumer is  obliged  to  pay  a  profit  to  the  merchant  on  that  duty, 
'which,  where  profits  are  from  20  to  50  per  Cent.,  falls  very  hea- 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  97 

vlly  upon  him.  The  cotton  grower,  under  this  view  of  the  sub- 
ject, pays  no  more  tax  than  other  inland  consumers,  and  as  he 
possesses,  Uke  all  others,  the  right  to  limit  his  consumption  of , 
foreign  commodities,  or  of  the  domestic  substitute,  he  would 
stand  upon  the  same  footing  as  all  other  consumers.  High 
duties  then,  operating  as  a  tax  on  consumption,  fall  equally  up- 
on all  consumers,  leaving  out  of  view  the  question  of  inequality 
as  to  the  articles  selected  for  taxation,  which,  under  the  "  Ame- 
rican System,"  consist  of  those  which  make  the  burthen  fall 
heaviest  upon  the  farmers  and  the  working  men. 

Let  us  now  examine  the  subject  under  the  other  aspect. 
High  duties  diminish  exports.  By  this  operation,  the  loss  falls 
directly  upon  those  who  raise  the  articles  of  which  the  export 
is  diminished,  and  those  who  w^ere  concerned  in  the  export 
trade  and  navigation  of  the  country ;  and  indirectly  upon  the 
whole  community,  inasmuch  as  tiie  total  product  of  the  entire 
land  and  labour  of  the  country  is  not  as  great  as  it  would  have 
been  under  a  greater  extent  of  exchanges.  The  greatest  por- 
tion of  the  loss,  however,  would  fall  upon  the  first  named  class, 
especially  if  they  should  be  agriculturists,  possessing  land 
adapted  peculiarly  for  the  cultivation  of  the  articles  referred 
to.  -Thus  we  have  seen,  by  an  article  lately  published  in  this 
paper  upon  the  French  i-estrictive  system,  that  the  refusal  to 
import  iron,  linen,  &c.,  from  the  North  of  Europe  into  France, 
had  occasioned  so  great  a  diminution  of  the  demand  for  wine, 
that  three  millions  of  people,  engaged  in  the  cultivation  of  the 
grape,  had  been  thrown  into  a  state  of  the  most  extreme  dis- 
tress. Now,  inasmuch  as  cotton,  rice  and  tobacco  constitute 
the  only  important  productions  of  agriculture  which  we  can 
furnish  to  Great  Britain  cheaper  than  she  can  procure  them 
elsewhere,  and  wdiich  she  finds  it  convenient  to  take  in  exchange 
for  her  manufactures,  and  inasmuch  as  she  is  ready  and  will- 
ing to  take  of  those  articles  to  as  great  an  amount  as  we  are 
willing  to  purchase  of  her,  it  is  manifest,  that  a  refusal  to  take 
British  goods,  amounts  to  a  positive  interdict  upon  the  cultiva- 
tion of  cotton,  rice  and  tobacco,  to  an  extent  equal  to  the  value 
of  the  articles  which  we  exclude.  Whether  this  operates  upon 
the  growers  of  those  articles  more  or  less  oppressively,  depends 
upon  various  circumstances.  If  the  land  upon  which  cotton, 
rice  and  tobacco  are  grown,  is  not  capable  of  producing  as 
valuable  a  crop  of  other  products,  (w^hich  is  not  to  be  suppos- 
ed, or  otherwise  it  would  have  been  applied  to  the  cultivation 
of  such  more  valuable  products,)  the  loss  will  be  precisely  equal 
to  this  diiference,  and  in  reference  to  cotton  lands,  we  can 
readily  suppose  that  a  prohibition  to  raise  cotton  upon  them, 
would  be  an  almost  entire  annihilation  of  their  value. 

From  this  view  of  the  subject,  if  the  reasoning  is  correct,  it 
is  evident  that  the  Southern  states  feel  the  pressure  of  the  high 
I 


98  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

duty  system  more  sensibly  than  those  of  the  North  and  West, 
and  it  is  not  therefore  to  be  wondered  at  that  they  should  be 
more  restive  than  the  others  under  the  burthen.  We  have 
heard  a  distinguished  Carolina  planter  say,  that,  in  his  district 
of  country,  during  the  ])ast  year,  he  did  not  derive  from  the 
i  labour  of  his  hands,  more,  upon  an  average,  than  ten  cents  per 
day  each,  including  the  use  of  the  land.  A  little  reflection  will 
shew  how  a  trifling  fall  in  the  price  of  cotton  alTects  the  income 
of  the  growers.  Thus,  if  cotton  were  ten  cents  per  pound,  and 
the  actual  expenses  of  raising  it,  six  cents,  a  fall  of  one  cent 
per  pound  would  not  be  a  mere  diminution  of  the  planter's  in- 
come of  ten  ])er  cent.;  it  would  be  a  diminution  of  twenty-five 
per  cent. — seeing,  that  only  four  of  the  ten  cents  consisted  of 
revenue.  Upon  the  same  principle,  a  fall  of  two  cents  per 
pound  would  be  a  reduction  of  fifty  per  cent.,  or  one  half  of 
his  whole  income ;  and  this  is  the  extent  to  which  the  income 
of  no  small  portion  of  the  cotton  planters  has  been  reduced. 

This  severe  pressure  has  naturally  excited  a  good  deal  of 
inquiry  in  the  Southern  states ;  and  the  people  have,  conse- 
quently," applied  themselves  to  a  study  of  the  principles  of  that 
science  which  points  out  the  operation  of  restrictive  laws. 
They  are  consequently  better  political  economists  than  the  in- 
habitants of  the  other  states,  and  they  understand  better  than 
the  latter  how  to  present  the  question  in  its  true  matter-of-fact 
form.  When  they  are  told  by  a  Northern  manufacturer,  that 
goods  are  cheaper  than  they  used  to  be  fifteen  years  ago,  they 
admit  the  fact,  but  they  ask  this  question — "  Can  I  get  as  many 
pounds  of  iron,  or  of  sugar,  or  as  many  bushels  of  salt,  or  as 
many  yards  of  cotton  or  woollen  cloth,  for  a  bale  of  cotton,  as 
I  could  if  there  was  no  American  System  to  keep  up  the  prices 
of  the  former  articles,  and  to  restrict  my  market  for  the  latter?" 
This,  after  all,  is  the  true  question,  and  no  honest  man,  who 
has  a  mind  capable  of  comprehending  the  most  simple  proposi- 
tion, can  answer  in  the  affirmative.  The  truth  is  too  apparent 
to  admit  of  denial,  that  the  effect  of  the  restrictive  system  is  to 
diminish  the  exchangeable  value  of  cotton,  rice,  and  tobacco, 
and  thus  to  sacrifice  the  interests  of  the  people  whom  Heaven 
has  favoured  with  a  climate  and  soil  adapted  for  their  cultiva- 
tion, for  the  fancied,  not  real,  benefit  of  others,  inhabiting  differ 
ent  sections  of  country. 


OF     FREE     TRADE.  99 

ESSAY     No.   XXXV. 

MAY    1,    1830. 

Internal  Bnprovements.     Tnie  injluence  of,  upon  f.hf  vealth  cf 

nations. 

IT  is  one  of  the  easiest  things  in  the  world  to  make  a  speech 
on  Internal  Improvements,  which  shall  captivate  the  great  mass 
of  the  people,  and  lead  them  to  believe  that  the  orator  is  perfect 
master  of  the  whole  subject.  It  consists  in  nothing  more  than 
laying  down  general  propositions  which  no  body  can  dispute, 
and  then  in  insisting  upon  it,  that  those  propositions  are  pre- 
cisely applicable  to  the  particular  improvement  under  conside- 
ration- Mr.  Hemphill,  in  his  speech  on  the  Buffalo  and  New 
Orleans  road  bill,  gives  us  a  specimen  of  this  sort  of  reasoning. 
He  says,  "  A  thorough  and  judicious  execution  of  internal  im- 
provement would  enliven  the  whole  country.  The  advantages 
of  such  public  works  are  so  universally  acknowledged,  that  it 
would  be  time  mis-spent  to  go  into  any  reasoning  on  the  sub- 
ject. The  results  have  been  the  same  in  all  ages,  and  nations." 
Now  no  one  will  dispute  that  a  "judicious"  execution  of  inter- 
nal improvement  would  enliven  the  country ;  but  Mr.  Hemphill, 
in  the  whole  course  of  his  speech,  has  not  advanced  a  single 
argument,  to  shew  what  is  meant  by  the  term  "judicious;"  and 
he  has  left  the  matter,  notwithstanding  his  exertions  to  prove 
that  the  road  in  question  was  entitled  to  that  appellation,  as 
open  as  the  question  of  a  "judicious  tariff"  has  been  left  by 
othpTq. 

We  ourselves  are  advocates  of  a  "judicious  tariff;"  but  what 
we  mean  by  judicious,  is  a  tariff  that  shall  consult  the  interests 
of  the  whole  people  and  not  of  a  particular  part  of  them,  and 
which  will  impose  no  more  taxes  on  the  nation,  than  what  are 
required  for  the  support  of  an  economical  government.  We 
are  also  the  friends  of  a  "judicious  execution  of  internal  im- 
provements," and  as  we  probably  differ  from  Mr.  Hemphill  in 
the  acceptation  of  that  term,  as  much  as  we  do  from  Mr.  Niles 
or  Mr.  Carey,  in  relation  to  a  "judicious  tariff,"  we  will  point 
out  the  grounds  of  that  difference,  in  as  brief  and  intelligible  a 
way  as  we  can,  waiving  the  question  of  constitutionaHty,  and 
treating  the  subject  as  an  economical  one. 

That  turnpike  roads,  rail  roads,  and  canals,  have  an  impor- 
tant influence  when  judiciously  located,  upon  the  prosperity  of 
a  country,  is  too  palpable  to  admit  of  dispute.  They  are  la- 
bour-saving machines  in  commerce,  as  steam-engines  are  in 
manufactures,  and,  by  diminishing  the  expense  of  transportation, 
they  enable  the  consumers  of  produce  and  merchandize  to  sup- 
ply themselves  at  a  cheaper  rate  than  before.     Still,  however, 


100  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

although  this  position  is  incontrovertible,  yet  it  by  no  means 
follows  that  roads  and  canals  ought  to  be  indefinitely  multipli- 
ed ;  and  it  is  from  a  want  of  an  acquaintance  with  the  science 
of  political  economy,  which  points  out  the  rule  which  is  to  de- 
tei'mine  between  what  is  a  judicious  and  what  is  not  a  judicous 
expenditure  of  money  on  internal  improvements,  that  so  much 
mischief  has  already  been  done,  and  that  so  much  more  is 
threatened. 

Suppose  the  question  were  put  to  a  farmer  whetJier  a  good 
road  to  market  w^as  not  desirable  to  him,  what  would  be  his 
reply  ?  Clearly,  an  affirmative  one.  Suppose  the  further  ques- 
tion w^ere  put  to  him,  how  much  he  would  contribute  towards 
the  making  of  such  a  road,  what  would  then  be  his  answer? 
It  would  probably  be  this,  and  if  he  were  a  man  of  sense  it 
would  certainly  be  this :  "  I  will  contribute  such  sum  as  will  be 
likely  to  bring  back  to  me  a  pecuniary  return  at  least  equal  to 
all  the  pecuniary  disadvantage  I  shall  sustain  by  parting  with 
my  capital."  In  fact,  this  is  the  only  sound  mode  of  calculation 
upon  such  a  subject,  and  it  is  the  mode  so  plainly  pointed  out 
by  common  sense,  that  every  individual  farmer  acts  upon  it  as 
if  by  instinct.  And  the  mode  in  which  he  comes  at  his  conclu- 
sion, is  by  a  sort  of  account  current  between  the  advantages  he 
should  obtain  from  the  improvement,  and  the  disadvantage  he 
W'ould  sustain  from  parting  with  his  capital.  He  would  first 
ascertain,  as  near  as  he  could,  the  quantity  of  produce  which  he 
would  have  to  send  to  market,  and  would  then  compare  the 
cost  of  its  transportation  under  his  existing  facilities,  with  the 
cost  under  the  proposed  improvement.  If  the  difierence  should 
be  very  considerable,  he  would  be  disposed  to  contribute  large- 
ly ;  but  he  would  take  care  to  be  assured,  before  he  parted  with 
his  money,  that  he  should  gain  quite  as  much  annually,  as  the 
annual  income  derived  from  his  capital,  whether  that  were  em- 
ployed in  loans,  or  in  his  agricultural  business. 

The  road  here  spoken  of,  the  reader  will  remember,  is  a  road 
which  collects  no  tolls,  but  in  the  construction  of  which  a  capital 
is  expended,  without  any  other  return  to  the  contributors  than 
what  they  may  derive  in  the  saving  of  transportation  on  their 
products.  And  the  i-eason  why  we  have  sirpposed  such  a  road 
is,  that  the  true  nature  of  w^hat  are  called  internal  improve- 
ments may  be  exhibited.  The  test  of  the  utihty,  or,  if  the 
reader  pleases,  "  the  judicious  execution"  of  these,  whether  the} 
be  turnpikes,  rail  roads,  or  canals,  is  entirely  the  same.  The 
only  criterion  which  can  be  employed  is,  whether  or  no  the  di- 
minution of  the  expense  of  transporting  all  the  persons  and  com- 
modities vhich  tcould  pass  over  its  surface,  ivould  be  greater 
than,  equal  to,  or  less  than,  the  income  which  could  be  derived 
by  the  constructors  from  the  employment  of  the  same  capital  in 
other  pursuits.    If  the  diminution  would  be  greater,  the  improve- 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  101 

merit  would  be  beneficial ;  if  it  would  be  equal,  the  improvement 
would  be  indifferent ;  and  if  it  would  be  less,  the  improvement 
would  be  positively  injurious ;  and  for  the  same  reason  that  it 
would  be  injurious  to  a  farmer  to  expend  a  hundred  dollars 
from  which  he  could  derive  six  dollars  per  annum,  in  the  con- 
struction of  a  road,  which  would  enable  him  to  save  by  trans- 
portation only  five  dollars. 

The  foregoing  is  the  view  of  the  question  of  internal  improve- 
ments as  a  purely  economical  one.  And  it  must  moreover  be 
recollected,  that  the  calculations  must  have  reference  to  the 
very  moment  at  which  the  capital  is  expended.  Many  persons 
are  apt  to  suppose,  that  a  loss  would  not  be  experienced,  if  it 
could  be  shewn  that,  in  a  few  years,  the  necessary  saving 
would  be  as  great  as  the  income  lost  by  the  expenditure.  This 
is  an  error.  The  compound  interest  of  capital  must  always  be 
added  to  the  cost  of  a  work  in  order  to  ascertain  its  true  cost ; 
and  as  money  doubles  at  compound  interest  of  six  per  cent,  in 
less  than  twelve  years,  a  work  which  costs  a  million  of  dollars 
to  day,  will  stand  the  nation  in  two  millions  at  the  expiration 
of  eleven  years  and  about  eight  months.  It  could  easily  be 
shewn,  we  think,  that  the  capital  wasted,  near  forty  years  ago, 
in  an  abortive,  because  premature  attempt,  to  cut  a  canal  from 
Philadelphia,  by  the  way  of  Reading,  to  the  Susquehanna,  if  it 
had  been  saved  and  accumulated,  would  have  been  more  than 
sufficient  to  complete  the  work  at  the  present  day,  which  has 
been  accomplished  by  a  vast  expenditure  of  new  capital. 

It  will  be  observed,  that  in  this  examination  of  the  subject, 
we  have  kept  the  economical  question  separate  from  all  other 
incidental  ones,  of  which  there  are  a  number,  which,  in  the 
minds  of  many  people  are  so  confusedly  mixed  up  with  the  true 
one,  that  they  cannot  see  the  latter  in  its  proper  light.  The 
rise  in  the  value  of  land,  the  convenience  of  travelling,  the  com- 
fort of  a  good  road  to  those  who  five  on  its  route,  giving  em- 
ployment to  labourers,  and  various  other  considerations,  all  en- 
ter into  the  account  with  some  people,  and  convey  to  their 
minds  the  idea  of  some  magnificent,  indescribable  aggregate  cf 
benefits,  which  captivate  them  to  such  a  degree  that  they  think 
with  Mr.  Hemphill,  "  that  it  would  be  time  mis-spent  to  go  into 
any  reasoning  on  the  subject."  Now  we  do  not  think  so.  We 
think  that  the  subject  is  precisely  such  a  one  as  calls  more  loud- 
ly for  going  into  reasoning  upon  it  than  any  other,  with  a  single 
exception,  now  before  the  nation ;  for  notwithstanding  all  the 
speeches  which  have  been  made  in  favour  of  roads  and  canals, 
at  this  and  former  sessions  of  Congress,  very  httle  has  been  ad- 
duced to  shew  the  scientific  grounds  upon  which  they  are  t<> 
be  justified. 
I* 


102  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 


ESSAY    No.   XXXV  I. 

MAY  5,  1830. 

Report  of  the  Committee  on  Agriculture  to  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, recommending  frotcction  to  the  growth  of  silk.  Im- 
policy of  shewn.  Absurdity  of  the  common  notion  about  the 
balance  of  trade. 

THE  Committee  on  Agriculture  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives has  made  a  report  on  the  subject  of  the  culture  of  silk  in 
the  United  States,  and  like  all  the  modern  documents,  which 
recommend  Congress  to  appropriate  the  public  money  for  the 
purpose  of  inducing  people  to  do,  what  the  same  documents 
invariably  say  it  is  for  their  interest  to  do,  it  is  founded  upon 
the  errors  of  the  old  mercantile  theory,  now  better  known  in 
this  country  under  the  appellation  of  the  American  System. 
When  we  see  a  gentleman  so  eminent  as  the  chairman  of  that 
committee,  in  that  profession  which  of  all  the  liberal  pursuits 
qualifies  its  votaries  for  clear  and  logical  reasoning,  advance 
such  fallacious  positions  as  some  of  those  contained  in  the  re- 
port referred  to,  we  are  at  a  loss  to  conjecture  by  what  pro- 
cess of  the  mind  he  could  have  been  brought  to  their  belief. 
It  is  true  the  report  does  not  recommend  high  duties  upon  fo- 
reign silks  to  encourage  their  domestic  manufacture,  but  it  goes 
one  step  towards  it,  and  if  that  step  be  not  cut  short  at  the 
threshold,  we  shall  see  re-acted  the  whole  scene  of  devastation 
which  has  followed  in  the  footsteps  of  the  cotton  and  woollen 
protcctim  systems.  It  recommends  an  "  appropriation  of  a 
small  and  insignificant  sum  of  money,"  to  be  granted  to  Mr. 
D'Homergue,  a  French  gentleman  who  understands  the  art  of 
reeling  silk  from  the  cocoons,  to  remain  in  this  country  for  the 
purpose  of  teaching  that  operation  to  others.  Now  we  unhesi- 
tatingly say,  that  if  Mr.  D'Homergue,  who  has  been  in  this 
country  for  a  year,  or  near  it,  who  has  published  essays  upon 
essays  upon  the  culture  of  silk,  and  who  has  had  constant  in- 
tercourse with  the  most  conspicuous  supporters  of  the  protect- 
ing system,  has  not  been  able  to  convince  any  one  or  more  in- 
dividuals that  it  was  their  interest  to  avail  themselves  of  his  ta- 
lents and  skill  by  raising  "  a  small  and  insignificant  sum  of 
money,"  we  do  not  see  how  it  can  be  shewn  to  be  the  duty  of 
the  government  to  interfere  in  this  matter,  even  supposing  it 
had  the  constitutional  right,  any  more  than  that  it  is  its  duty 
to  appropriate  money  for  the  purpose  of  inducing  foreigners  to 
introduce  into  the  country  any  other  species  of  skill. 

But  let  us  look  at  the  arguments.  "  The  importation  of  silk, 
during  the  year  which  ended  on  the  30th  of  September,  1828, 
amounted  to  $8,463,503,  of  which  $1,274,461  were  exported; 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  103 

but  in  the  same  year,  the  exportation  of  bread-stuffs  from  the 
country  amounted  only  to  i$5,4 14,605,  leaving  a  balance 
against  us  of  nearly  two  millions."  Here  we  have  again  reviv- 
ed the  old  exploded  doctrine  of  the  balance  of  trade.  Now^  if  this 
statement  of  the  case  is  a  logical  one,  it  implies  that  bread-stuffs 
constitute  the  fund  out  of  which  we  pay  for  our  silks,  or  other- 
wise why  should  they  be  selected  from  a  mass  of  fifty  millions 
of  exports,  any  more  than  cotton  or  tobacco  ?  The  proposition 
then  would  stand  thus : — If  we  export  bread-stuffs,  worth 
$5,414,665,  and,  in  exchange  therefor,  procure  silks  worth 
$7,189,102,  (the  value  imported  after  deducting  those  export- 
ed,) we  are  losers  by  the  operation  of  nearly  2,000,000  dollars. 
This,  to  be  sure,  would  be  strange  reasoning,  but  it  is  the  rea- 
soning of  the  committee ;  from  which  we  differ  in  opinion,  in- 
asmuch as  it  appears  to  us  that  the  very  opposite  result  would 
have  been  proved,  viz.,  that  we  had  gained  near  two  millions 
of  dollars  by  the  trade. 

If  a  farmer  in  Ohio,  where  a  barrel  of  flour  is  worth  three 
dollars,  sends  it  to  New  Orleans  where  it  sells  for  five,  and  there 
purchases  with  the  money  ten  bushels  of  salt,  which  at  home 
are  worth  ten  dollars,  he  is,  according  to  the  American  Sys- 
tem doctrines,  going  fast  to  ruin.  The  balance  of  trade  is 
against  him.  He  imports  to  a  greater  amount  than  he  exports. 
He  is  losing  money,  and  if  he  long  perseveres  in  such  a  course, 
he  will  be  drained  of  his  last  dollar.  Now  if  such  a  doctrine 
were  seriously  advanced,  there  is  not  in  the  whole  country  a 
single  individual  with  an  intellect  so  obtuse  as  not  to  see  its  ab- 
surdity ;  and  yet  the  moment  this  fallacy  is  predicated  of  a  na- 
tion instead  'of  an  individual,  the  moment  it  is  dignified  with  the 
title  of  the  great  doctrine  of  the  balance  of  trade,  and  is  mystified 
by  volumes  of  statistical  tables,  the  whole  nation  loses  sight  of 
common  sense,  and  insists  upon  it,  that  a  country  which  ex- 
ports fifty  millions  of  dollars  worth  of  produce,  and  imports  six- 
ty millions  of  dollars  w^orth  of  foreign  goods,  -purchased  irith 
the  proceeds  of  the  sales,  is  getting  ruined.  How  plain  it  is  to 
be  seen,  that  in  the  case  of  the  Ohio  farmer,  his  trade  has  been 
profitable,  instead  of  having  been  injurious  to  him  ;  for  although 
he  does  not  get  the  whole  of  the  difference  between  the  three 
dollars  and  the  ten  dollars,  the  Ohio  prices  of  his  flour  and  salt, 
yet  he  gets  a  part  of  it,  the  rest  having  been  paid  for  freight, 
insurance,  porterage,  and  commissions.  The  case  is  the  same 
with  national  imports  and  exports ;  and  as  produce  cannot  be 
sent  abroad,  nor  foreign  goods  be  imported,  without  similar  ex- 
penses, and  as  our  custom-house  returns  always  give  the  va- 
lue of  the  domestic  articles  at  home,  before  the  expenses  on 
them  begin,  and  the  value  of  the  foreign  article  after  the  ex- 
penses have  been  incurred,  it  follows,  as  a  necessary  conse- 
quence, that  the  aggregate  value  of  imports  must  be  greater 


104  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

than  the  aggregate  value  of  exports,  or  else  the  nation  must  be 
carrying  on  a  losing  trade. 

The  committee  say  they  "  regard  the  general  culture  of  silk 
as  of  vast  national  advantage  in  m.any  points  of  view.  If  zea- 
lously undertaken  and  prosecuted,  it  will  in  a  few  years  furnish 
an  article  of  export  of  great  value,  and  thus  the  millions  paid 
by  the  people  of  the  United  States  for  silk  stuffs,  will  be  com- 
pensated for  by  the  sale  of  our  raw  silk."  Now  this  may  be 
true,  or  it  may  not  be  true.  It  is  quite  possible  that  the  culture 
of  silk,  in  some  parts  of  the  United  States,  may  become  a  pro- 
fitable branch  of  business.  But  if  it  ever  does  become  a  more 
profitable  branch  of  industry  than  those  which  now  exist,  it  can 
only  be  by  its  introduction  in  the  natural  way.  No  forcing  can 
I'ender  it  so.  The  raising  of  silk  \vorms  requires  very  little 
capital,  or  skill,  and  is  within  the  capability  of  almost  every  man, 
wom.an  and  child  in  the  country.  But  it  is  a  great  error  to 
suppose,  as  the  committee  does,  that  the  culture  of  silk  "  will 
detract  nothing  from  agricultural  or  manufacturing  labour." 
This  is  one  of  the  great  fallacies  of  the  American  System.  It 
supposes  that  the  labour  of  the  people  can  be  made  to  produce 
all  which  is  now  produced,  and  eight  millions  of  dollars  worth 
of  silk  besides.  It  is  true,  that  there  are  at  this  moment  in  some 
of  our  cities,  people  who  are  suffering  because  they  have  been 
deprived  of  employment,  owing  to  the  destruction  of  commerce 
by  the  tariff  system ;  yet  it  is  not  true,  that,  throughout  the 
country,  any  great  attention  could  be  paid  to  the  cultivation  of 
silk  worms,  without  interfering  with  other  labours  ;  for,  as  far 
as  we  have  had  an  opportunity  of  judging  of  agricultural  life, 
we  have  never  seen  an  industrious  farmer  who  could  truly  say 
that  he  had  nothing  to  do. 

But  if  the  culture  of  silk  shall  shew  itself  to  be  a  profitable 
branch  of  business,  people  will  gradually  fall  into  it  without  le- 
gislative aid;  and  there  are  no  doubt  now  going  on  investiga- 
tions, prompted  by  individual  interest,  which  will  soon  introduce 
into  the  country,  in  the  proper  way,  all  the  regular  skill  requi- 
site for  the  filature  of  the  cocoons — and  this  would  be  much 
more  beneficial  than  any  interference  of  the  government,  seeing 
that  such  interference  would  look  like  a  warranty  of  the  expe- 
riment, and  in  consequence  of  it,  thousands  of  people  might  be 
induced  to  plant  orchards  of  mulberry  trees  where  they  had 
better  plant  wheat  and  corn. 

The  committee  further  "  anticipate,  that,  at  a  period  not  re- 
mote, when  we  shall  be  in  possession  of  the  finest  material 
produced  in  any  country,  the  manufacture  of  silk  stuffs  will 
necessarily  be  introduced  into  the  United  States."  That  at- 
tempts will  be  made  to  force  the  manufacture  of  silk  stuffs  in 
this  country,  is  quite  possible,  but  that  it  will  ever  be  intro- 
duced in  the  natural  course  of  things,  so  long  as  Western  lands 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  105 

can  be  had  for  one  dollar  and  a  quarter  an  acre,  we  do  not  be- 
lieve. The  mere  possession  of  a  raw  material,  when  a  great 
deal  of  human  labour  is  requisite  to  convert  it  into  a  fabric,  is 
of  very  little  account.  This  is  especially  the  case  with  an  ar- 
ticle of  so  great  value  as  raw  silk.  The  freight  and  expenses 
of  transporting  such  a  commodity  to  France  or  England,  would 
not  be  two  per  cent.,  and  the  mere  fact  of  raising  it,  would  give 
us  therefore  no  advantage  worth  naming.  Even  in  the  bulky 
article  of  cotton,  the  freight  alone  upon  which  is  ten  to  fifteen 
per  cent.,  the  advantage  we  enjoy  is  of  so  trifling  an  account, 
that  it  requires  protecting  duties  of  from  50  to  175  per  cent,  to 
shut  out  of  our  market  goods  made  with  our  own  cotton.  With 
silk  the  matter  would  be  the  same ;  and  we  should  say  that 
those  who  seriously  look  forward  to  the  day,  when  American 
labour  will  be  able  to  enter  into  competition  with  British, 
French,  and  Chinese  labour,  must  anticipate  a  more  rapid  in- 
crease of  our  population  than  we  have  ever  thought  possible, 
and  a  greater  extent  of  misery  and  poverty  than  we  have  ever 
considered  likely  to  visit  the  people  of  this  country,  or  than  we 
hope  will  ever  be  their  portion. 


ESSAY    No.    XXXVII. 


MAY  5,  1830. 

The  benefits  of  Free  Trade  illustrated  by  the  commerce  carried 
on  between  the  states  of  Maine  and  Virginia  and  other  South- 
ern states.  Robbing  Peter  of  one  dollar  to  pay  Paul  half-a- 
dollar,  is  the  real  effect  of  the  restrictive  system. 

IT  was  stated  in  the  Portland  Argus  a  few  weeks  ago,  that 
46,300  bushels  of  corn  had  been  brought  to  that  port  within  a 
short  period  from  the  Southern  states.  This  fact  illustrates  a 
very  important  principle  connected  with  the  subject  of  free 
trade,  to  which  our  attention  had  recently  been  drawn  by  an 
intelligent  gentleman  from  the  state  of  Maine,  lately  on  a  visit 
to  this  city. 

It  seems  that  the  soil  of  the  state  of  Maine  is  remarkably 
fertile  in  the  article  of  potatoes,  and  not  so  fertile  in  the  article 
of  corn.  It  also  seems  that  the  soil  of  Maryland,  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina  are  remarkably  fertile  in  the  article  of  corn, 
and  not  so  fertile  in  the  article  of  potatoes.  The  inhabitants 
therefore  of  these  two  districts  of  country,  find  it  for  their  in- 
terest to  carry  on  a  free  trade,  in  these  two  articles,  because 
the  Northern  people,  by  planting  potatoes,  can  get  out  of  their 
land  more  corn,  than  if  they  planted  corn,  and  because  the 


106  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

Southern  people  can  get  out  of  their  hind  more  potatoes,  by 
planting  corn,  than  if  they  planted  potatoes.  Paradoxical  as 
this  may  appear,  it  is  nevertheless  true;  and  it  is  in  fact  an 
epitome  of  the  whole  system  of  foreign  commerce,  which  can 
only  be  carried  on  between  two  nations,  each  of  which  has  an 
advantage  over  the  other  in  the  facility  of  producing  some  par- 
ticular commodity  or  other.  Now,  whether  this  advantage  con- 
sists in  difference  of  soil,  climate,  industrious  habits,  skill,  low- 
ness  of  wages,  superior  abundance  of  capital,  or  labour-saving 
machinery,  it  is  of  no  sort  of  consequence.  If  an  advantage 
exists,  it  will  create  commerce.  If  one  does  not  exist,  com- 
merce cannot  take  place ;  and  where  commerce  cannot  take 
place,  there  is  no  necessity  for  laws  to  say  that  it  shall  not  take 
place. 

Now,  suppose  that  an  acre  of  land  in  Maine  will  produce  100 
bushels  of  potatoes,  which  can  be  sold  for  50  bushels  of  South- 
ern corn,  and  suppose  that  the  same  acre  if  planted  with  corn 
will  produce  but  25  bushels ;  would  it  not  be  absurd  for  any 
law^-makers  to  start  up  in  Maine,  and  insist  upon  it  that  it  was 
injurious  for  the  people  of  that  state  to  import  Virginia  corn, 
because  it  encouraged  the  industry  of  foreigners  and  interfered 
with  the  domestic  production  of  corn  ?  Would  not  the  corn 
growers  be  looked  upon  as  guilty  of  an  impudent  interference 
with  the  rights  of  all  the  corn  eaters  in  Maine,  if  they  should 
cry  out  for  a  protecting  duty  against  Virginia  corn  ?  One  would 
suppose  so ;  and  yet,  strange  as  it  may  appear,  stranger  things 
than  this  have  been  done  in  our  country,  and  have  met  the  ap- 
probation of  many  who  have  passed  in  the  world  for  statesmen. 
The  case  in  point  affords  a  fine  field  for  illustrating  the  doctrine 
of  protecting  duties,  in  a  way  that  can  be  brought  down  to  the 
apprehension  of  the  simplest  farmer,  and  we  shall  accordingly 
avail  ourselves  of  it. 

According  to  the  positions  here  stated,  a  farmer  in  Maine 
can  raise  on  an  acre  of  land  only  25  bushels  of  corn  if  he  plants 
corn,  but  he  can  raise  50  bushels  of  corn,  if  he  plants  potatoes. 
It  is  therefore  clearly  his  interest  to  plant  potatoes.  But  he 
will  not  plant  all  his  land  with  potatoes.  He  will  plant  some 
corn,  because  as  there  are,  in  agriculture,  liabilities  to  bad  sea- 
sons, which  might  perchance  destroy  a  crop  of  potatoes,  whilst 
corn  w^ould  not  be  injured,  he  adopts  the  sound  rule  of  not  put- 
ting all  his  eggs  in  one  basket.  And  besides  all  this,  he,  per- 
haps, has  some  land  which  is  better  adapted  for  corn  than  pota- 
toes ;  and  he  knows,  at  all  events,  that  the  demand  in  Virginia 
for  potatoes  is  limited,  and  that  the  price  of  corn  there  must 
also  depend  upon  the  character  of  the  season.  Perhaps  in  some 
years  the  crop  of  corn  in  Virginia  might  fail,  whilst  that  of 
potatoes  should  succeed,  and  that  the  same  might  happen  in 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  107 

Maine,  which  would  put  an  end  to  the  trade  in  those  two  arti- 
cles. 

But  the  wiseacres  of  Maine,  we  will  suppose,  take  it  into 
their  heads,  as  the  wiseacres  of  England  have  done,  that  it  is 
better  for  the  people  to  eat  dear  bread  than  cheap  bread,  and 
for  this  purpose,  they  lay  a  protecting  duty  upon  foreign  com 
of  twenty  per  cent.  The  etlect  of  this  duty  would  be  to  raise 
the  price  of  corn  twenty  per  cent.  This  would  be  an  injury 
to  all  the  eaters  of  corn,  inasmuch  as  it  would  have  the  effect 
of  compelling  them  to  work  six  days  to  procure  the  quantity 
of  corn  that  they  could  before  procure  by  working  five  days  ; 
in  other  words,  it  would  oblige  people  to  pay  for  five  bushels 
of  corn,  the  same  price  they  used  to  pay  for  six.  This  would 
no  doubt  be  a  benefit  to  the  corn  growers,  and  exactly  the 
same  sort  of  benefit  that  would  be  enjoyed  by  a  hatter,  if  a  law 
were  enacted  to  compel  every  man  to  pay  him  six  dollars  for 
a  hat  which  another  hatter  would  furnish  for  five.  The  scheme 
would  thus  appear  to  be,  at  best,  nothing  but  robbing  "  Peter  to 
pay  Paul,"  by  which  the  community  would  lose  out  of  one  pock- 
et what  they  gained  in  the  other.  But  it  would  be  worse  than 
this,  it  would  be  robbing  Peter  of  a  dollar,  and  only  paying  Paul 
half-a-dollar ;  and  it  is  from  the  demonstrable  character  of  this 
proposition  that  the  folly  of  protective  laws  can  be  pointed  out. 

If  the  high  duty  system  were  a  mere  shifting  of  property 
from  one  man's  pocket  to  another,  it  would  be  harmless  as  re- 
gards its  influence  upon  the  general  prosperity,  in  the  same 
manner  that  the  wealth  of  the  community  is  not  in  any  manner 
aflected  by  a  highwayman's  appropriating  to  himself  another 
man's  purse.  But  the  misfortune  is,  that  in  the  transfer  alluded 
to,  there  is  a  positive  loss.  The  real  price  which  is  paid  for 
every  commodity,  is  human  labour.  The  rich,  who  do  not 
work,  but  who  live  upon  the  interest  of  money,  and  the  rents 
of  houses  and  lands,  do  not  perceive  this  truth  :  but  the  farmer, 
the  merchant,  the  seaman,  the  manufacturer,  the  mechanic, 
and  all  others  who  gain  their  Hving  by  the  sweat  of  their  brow, 
understand  it  perfectly  well ;  and  they  all  know  that  it  would 
be  better  for  them  to  procure  any  article  they  may  want  by 
working  for  it  one  day,  than  by  working  for  it  two  days.  Now 
if  the  price  of  a  day's  work  is  one  dollar,  and  the  price  of  a 
barrel  of  flour  is  five  dollars,  it  is  the  same  thing,  whether  we 
say  that  a  barrel  of  flour  is  worth  five  dollars,  or  is  worth  five 
days'  labour.  But  inasmuch  as  a  day's  labour  may  be  ap- 
plied to  so  many  different  things,  and  inasmuch  as  it  does  not 
convey  any  definite  and  accurate  idea,  it  is  more  convenient 
that  the  value  of  a  thing  should  be  expressed  in  money,  than  in 
days'  labour.  Still,  when  a  man  hears  that  a  thing  costs  so 
much  money,  he  should  always  remember  that  this  money  re- 
presents a  certain  quantity  of  labour. 


108  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

If  the  price  of  corn  be  raised  twenty  per  cent,,  the  effect,  as 
we  have  stated  above,  is  to  compel  the  consumers  of  corn  to 
work  six  days  in  order  to  procure  the  quantity  which  before 
could  be  procured  with  five  days'  labour,  and,  consequently, 
the  effect  of  any  measure  which  should  bring  about  such  a  rise 
artificially,  would  be  precisely  the  same  thing  as  if  a  law  should 
be  passed  to  compel  })eoi)le  to  turn  grindstones  one  day  out  of 
six,  when  there  were  no  tools  to  be  ground.  It  is,  in  other 
words,  as  regards  the  consumers,  an  entire  annihilation  of  the 
value  of  the  one-sixth  -part  of  their  labour.  Now,  unless  it  can 
-be  made  to  appear,  that  five  days'  labour  of  the  corn  growers 
in  Ma'ne,  by  the  operation  of  the  protective  system,  shall  pro- 
duce as  much  corn  as  six  days'  labour  before  produced,  the 
whole  community,  considered  as  oi>e  family,  would  have  been 
losers  by  the  operation.  But  what  is  the  fact?  The  land  is  no 
more  fertile  than  before.  An  acre  will  produce  no  more  corn 
than  before.  A  day's  work  in  ploughing,  sowing  and  harrow- 
ing, will  produce  no  more  bushels  than  before,  and  consequently 
the  loss  of  the  produce  of  one  day  in  six,  sustained  by  the  con- 
sumers of  corn,  not  being  made  up  by  the  corn  growers,  the 
society,  considered  as  a  whole,  (which  is  the  only  mode  in  which 
such  a  question  is  to  be  regarded,)  are  losers  precisely  to  that 
extent.  If  examined  closely,  it  will  be  found  that  such  a  law 
as  the  one  we  have  supposed  to  be  adopted  in  the  state  of 
Maine,  would  be  nothing  more  nor  less,  than  a  law  declaring 
that  the  consumers  of  corn  should  labour  one  day  out  of  every 
six,  without  any  equivalent  whatever,  for  the  sole  and  exclu- 
sive benefit  of  the  corn  growers ;  and  that  the  united  labour  of 
the  corn  growers  and  the  potatoe  growers,  would  not  produce 
in  the  aggregate  within  twenty  per  cent,  as  much  corn  and  po- 
tatoes, as  were  produced  by  them  before  the  restriction. 

The  case  we  have  here  stated,  is  a  perfect  illustration  of  the 
restrictive  system,  as  applied  to  any  other  species  of  industry. 
Whether  it  be  adopted  in  the  form  of  corn  laws,  or  laws  pro- 
tecting the  cultivation  of  sugar  from  cane  or  beets,  or  the  ma- 
nufacture of  salt,  iron,  glass,  woollen  and  cotton  goods,  it  is  in 
essence  the  same.  The  effect  of  it  is,  to  make  the  aggregate 
products  of  the  labour  of  the  whole  community  less  than  they 
would  be  if  the  government  would  confine  itself  to  its  proper 
sphere ;  that  is — "  restrain  men  from  injuring  one  another,  and 
leave  them  otherwise  free  to  regulate  their  own  pursuits  of  in- 
dustry and  improvement." 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  109 


ESSAY    No.  XXXVIII. 

MAY  8,  1830. 

Reasons  vhy  the  price  of  home-grown  irool  is  cheaper  in  Eng- 
land than  in  the  United  States.  Prices  of  fresh  meat  in 
England.     Price  of  sheep  in  the  United  States. 

ONE  of  the  reasons  why  the  British  can  raise  wool  cheaper 
than  we  can  in  this  country,  is,  that  the  British  people  are 
great  mutton  eaters,  as  well  as  beef  eaters.  This  fact  is  proved 
by  the  price  which  mutton  bears  throughout  that  whole  coun- 
try, and  it  is  very  clear,  tiiat  if  the  English  raisers  of  sheep  can 
sell  the  carcasses  alone  of  the  animal,  for  a  very  considerable 
price,  they  have  an  advantage  over  those  of  a  country  where 
mutton  is  not  a  favourite  food  of  the  people,  and  is  consequently 
cheap. 

It  has  been  a  common  notion  in  this  country,  that  we  could 
raise  wool  cheaper  than  the  British,  upon  the  ground  that  land 
is  cheaper  in  the  United  States  than  in  England ;  and  this  ad- 
vantage of  superior  cheapness  of  land  has  been  considered  as 
more  than  suthcient  to  counteract  the  disadvantages  to  which 
we  are  subject  from  the  rapacity  of  wolves  and  dogs,  severity 
of  climate,  and  a  want  of  acquaintance  with  the  diflerent  modes 
of  treatment,  which  long  experience  alone  can  furnish.  There 
may  be  some  truth  in  this  supposition ;  but  if  it  can  be  shewn 
that  a  sheep  in  England  is  worth,  after  he  is  raised,  two  or 
three  times  as  much  as  one  can  be  sold  for  in  the  United  States, 
it  is  very  clear  that  a  greater  expense  could  be  afforded  in  the 
former  country  than  in  this,  without  enhancing  the  price  of 
wool. 

In  looking  over  "  Evans  &  RufTy's  Farmers  Journal  and 
Agricultural  Advertizer,"  published  at  London  some  time  last 
year,  we  had  the  curiosity  to  examine  the  prices  current  of 
fresh  meat  in  the  English  markets,  and  as  these  may  furnish 
data  for  other  calculations  than  the  one  we  are  about  to  make, 
we  shall  transcribe  them  for  the  benefit  of  our  readers.  The 
prices  mentioned  are  for  the  stone  of  8  lbs.  sinking  offal. 

^^Smith-field,  Mondaij  August  24.  On  Friday  the  demand  for 
beef  was  rather  dull,  and  last  Monday's  prices  were  hardly 
supported.  Mutton  and  lamb  were  in  pretty  good  request. 
This  morning  the  beef  trade  is  tolerable ;  very  choice  things 
realise  4s.  4d. — but  for  the  general  trade  we  go  no  higher  than 
4s.  2d. ;  and  that  price  is  maintained  with  difficulty.  There  is 
a  fair  request  for  mutton ;  good  old  Downs  make  about  4s.  4d. 
Lamb  is  rather  heavy  in  disposal,  but  at  much  about  the  same 
prices  as  last  Monday.  Beef,  3s.  Od.  to  4s.  2d. — Veal  4s.  2d.  to 
K 


110  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

5s.  2d.— Mutton  3s.  4d.  to  4s.  2d.— Pork,  4s.  Od.  to  4s.  10. — 
Lamb,  4s.  2d.  to  5s.  Od. 

JVeivgate.  Beef,  3s.  Od.  to  3s.  6d.— Mutton,  3s.  4d.  to  3s.  lOd. 
—Veal,  3s.  4d.  to  4s.  8d.— Pork,  3s.  4d.  to  4s.  8d.— Lamb,  4s. 
Od.  to  4s.  8d. 

LedenhaJl  Beef,  2s.  8d.  to  3s.  6d.— Mutton,  3s.  Od.  to  4s. 
Od.— Veal,  3s.  4d.  to  4s.  lOd.— Pork,  3s.  Gd.  to  4s.  lOd.— Lamb, 
4s.  4d.  to  5s.  2d. 

South  all  cattle  market,  August  19.  Beef,  3s.  2d.  to  4s.  2d. — 
Mutton,  3s.  Od.  to  4s.  4d.— Veal,  4s.  6d.  to  5s.  2d. — Pork,  3s. 
lOd.  to  4s.  Gd.— Lamb,  4s.  6d.  to  5s.  Od. 

Reading  cattle  market,  August  17.  Beef,  3s.  4d.  to  4s.  8d. — 
Mutton,  3s.  4d.  to  4s.  8d.— Lamb,  4s.  Od.  to  4s.  lOd. — Veal,  3s. 
8d.  to  4s.  Gd. 

The  following  prices  are  per  pound. 

Birmingham,  Smithfeld,  August  20.  Beef,  b\di.  to  6|d. — 
P*Iutton,  5Ad.  to  6id.— Veal  5^d.  to  7|d. 

Bristol,  August  20.  Beef,  5d.  to  Gd.— Mutton,  5d.  to  G^d. — 
Pork  Ud.  to  5d. 

Kirkdale,  Liverpool,  August  17.  Beef,  5d.  to  5|d. — Mutton, 
5ld.  to  5f  d.— Lamb  5^d.  to  Gd. 

Manchester  Smithfield.  Beef,  3|d.  to  53d.— Mutton,  3|d.  to 
G^d.- Veal,  5d.  to  7d.— Pork,  3d.  to  4d.— Lamb,  4d.  to  Gd. 

JVorwich,  August  22.  Beef,  Gd.  to  8d. — Veal,  5.  to  7^d. — 
Mutton,  5d.  to  7d.— Lamb,  Gd.  to  7d.— Pork,  5d.  to  7Ad." 

From  the  foregoing  statement  the  following  facts  appear ; 
first,  that  mutton  in  England  sells  for  as  much  as  beef,  and  in 
many  places  for  more ;  and  secojidly,  that  the  average  price, 
whicli  we  have  ascertained  from  summing  up  the  various  rates 
and  taking  the  medium,  is  5^d.  and  a  fraction,  which,  reducing 
British  currency  into  ours,  at  the  rate  of  exchange  current  for 
some  years  past,  is  1 1  cents  per  pound.  Thus  it  will  be  seen, 
that  in  almost  any  part  of  England,  the  carcass  of  a  sheep, 
w^eighing  50  lbs.  will  sell  as  meat  for  $5.50,  leaving  the  skin 
and  wool  as  an  incidental  product. 

Now  what  is  the  state  of  the  case  in  this  country  ?  Hundreds 
of  thousands  of  sheep  can  be  purchased  in  the  interior  districts, 
carcasses,  skin,  wool  and  all,  for  one  single  dollar  per  head. 
The  price  of  mutton  in  the  Philadelphia  market,  and  we  believe 
in  the  markets  of  all  our  Atlantic  cities,  is  never  more  than  Q\ 
cents  per  pound,  generally  5  cents,  and  we  have  often  known 
it  as  low  as  4.  In  the  country  villages,  in  the  Western  coun- 
try, it  is  even  less,  and  it  does  not  admit  of  a  doubt,  that  there 
is,  with  a  great  portion  of  our  country  inhabitants,  a  prejudice 
against  mutton.  The  same  prejudice  exists  amongst  the  blacks, 
and  with  some  religious  sects,  and  it  is  in  reality  in  the  cities 
alone,  where  the  American  System  finds  any  considerable  aid 
from  the  consumption  of  mutton.     In  order  therefore  to  com- 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  Ill 

pete  with  the  British,  in  the  raising  of  wool,  we  must  become 
a  nation  of  mutton  eaters ;  and  we  are  clearly  of  opinion,  that 
those  who  wish  to  see  wool  in  this  country  produced  as  cheap 
as  it  is  in  England,  should  set  the  example  of  having  nothing 
but  sheep  served  up  at  political  barbecues,  at  the  tables  of  the 
woollen  spinners  and  weavers,  and  at  the  festivals  of  the  Ame- 
rican Institute.  They  should  always  keep  in  mind,  that  the 
cod-fishery  of  New  England  was,  in  a  great  degree,  established 
by  the  patriotic  resolution  of  our  Eastern  fellow-citizens,  to 
have  a  cod-fish  dinner  once  a  week.  This  being  a  legitimate  pro- 
tection to  the  wool  growing  interest,  with  which  no  one  would 
have  a  right  to  find  fault,  it  would  stand  upon  a  difierent  foot- 
ing from  a  tarift'  law,  which  taxes  a  man  against  his  will ;  and 
if,  in  the  progress  of  time,  the  American  people  shall  be  willing 
to  pay  more  for  mutton  than  for  beef,  some  hopes  may  be  in- 
dulged, that  the  awful  butchery  of  sheep,  which  we  understand 
is  now  going  on  to  a  great  extent,  will  not  be  repeated. 

We  are  not,  however,  of  opinion,  that  such  a  change  in  the 
public  taste  will  soon  be  brought  about.  The  interests  of  the 
graziers  of  cattle  and  the  growers  of  hogs  in  the  Western  coun- 
try, in  New  York  and  New  England,  are  decidedly  opposed  to 
it,  and  it  is  quite  probable  that  so  long  as  beef  and  pork  can  be 
brought  to  market  from  a  distance  of  from  5  to  800  miles,  as  it 
is  now,  in  a  living  state,  and  sold  at  reasonable  prices,  so  long 
will  they  be  preferred. 


ESSAY    No.   XXXIX. 

MAY  12,  1830. 

Effects  of  the  restrictive  system,  in  throwing  people  out  of  employ- 
ment. The  American  System  older  than  is  commonly  sup- 
posed. 

OF  the  deplorable  effects  of  the  "  American  System,"  upon 
our  commercial  cities,  we  have  the  following  striking  example, 
presented  upon  the  very  best  authority : 

From  Niles'  Register  of  April  17. 

"  Mr.  Carey,  who  is  never  weary  in  the  cause  of  philanthro- 
py, (says  the  Philadelphia  Inquirer,)  has  published  another 
pamphlet  on  the  inadequacy  of  the  wages  paid  to  females,  em- 
ployed in  the  subordinate  departments  of  mechanical  trades. 
He  states,  that  there  are  in  the  four  Northern  cities,  probably 
from  18,000  to  20,000  women,  who,  if  constantly  employed  for 
sixteen  hours  out  of  the  twenty-four,  cannot,  on  an  average,  cam 
more  than  a  dollar  and  a  quarter  per  week." 


112  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

If  this  statement  of  numbers  is  correct,  it  establishes  one  of 
two  things  :  First,  that  the  number  of  females  who  cannot  now 
find  employment,  has  been  increased  as  the  tarifl"  system  has  ad- 
vanced; or,  secondly,  that  the  tarilf  system  has  not  answered 
one  of  the  great  ends  for  which  it  was  instituted — that  of  afibrd- 
ing  ample  emf)loyment  to  the  poor.  In  either  case  it  ought  to  be 
abandoned.  But  we  arc  quite  sure  that  the  tendency  of  the  re- 
strictive policy  is  to  diminish  the  demand  for  labour,  inasmuch 
as  it  diminishes  capital,  the  great  fund  from  which  all  labour 
derives  its  support ;  or,  what  is  the  same  thing,  prevents  capital 
from  increasing  as  fast  as  it  would  otherwise  increase.  If  a 
farmer  has  to  pay  fifty  or  a  hundred  dollars  taxes,  he  cannot 
aflbrd  to  employ  as  many  people  as  if  he  had  paid  none.  If  a 
manufacturer  or  mechanic  has  to  do  the  same  thing,  his  demand 
for  the  labour  of  others  must  decrease  in  the  same  proportion ; 
and  inasmuch  as  high  duties  are  taxes,  the  means  of  those  who 
pay  them  are  diminished  in  proportion  to  their  amognt. 

To  us,  it  is  as  clear  as  the  light  of  day,  that  the  state  of 
things  described  by  Mr.  Carey,  is  the  result  of  the  restrictive 
system.  It  arises  from  the  fact,  that  the  breaking  up  of  com- 
merce and  navigation,  deprives  of  a  part  of  their  accustomed 
employment,  the  men  who  are  engaged  in  the  various  branches 
of  business  connected  with  trade  and  ship-building,  and  the 
consequence  is,  that  their  wives  and  daughters  are  obliged  to 
assist  in  the  maintenance  of  their  families  by  labouring  for 
others.  A  very  little  reflection  will  shew,  that  in  large,  crowd- 
ed populations,  like  those  of  our  Northern  cities,  there  must  al- 
ways be  thousands  who  stand  so  near  the  brink  of  that  neces- 
sity which  compels  people  to  hire  themselves  out,  that  the 
slightest  withdrawal  of  their  usual  scanty  means  of  support, 
will  cast  them  into  the  ranks,  already  overflowing,  of  those  who 
are  competitors  in  the  more  humble  walks.  We  do  know  the 
fact,  that  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  and  we  presume  it  is  the 
case  in  other  cities,  young  women  of  very  respectable  classes, 
who  fifteen  or  twenty  years  ago  were  maintained  by  their  pa- 
rents, are  now  obliged  to  labour  for  themselves,  and  as  the  nee- 
dle is  the  implement  to  which  most  of  them  resort,  the  tendency 
of  their  competition  is  to  deprive  of  a  portion  of  their  employ- 
ment, those  who  occupy  inferior  stations.  Now  it  may  happen, 
that  a  very  slight  reduction  of  income  from  wages,  may  multi- 
ply the  number  of  competitors  to  an  extensive  degree,  and  we 
would  say  to  Mr.  Carey,  that,  if  he  does  not  wish  to  see  his 
20,000  doubled  to  40,000,  he  should  take  as  active  a  part  in 
getting  the  taxes  upon  these  very  people  taken  oft',  as  he  did  in 
getting  them  put  on.  There  is  many  a  mechanic  in  our  cities 
who  pays  $.50  a  year  taxes,  and  who  is  thereby  kept  down  by 
a  constant  pressure,  whereas  if  he  were  relieved  from  this  bur- 
then, he  would  live  in  comfort,  and  have  something  to  lay  up. 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  113 

In  confirmation  of  our  opinion  on  this  subject,  we  annex  here- 
to the  following  extract,  from  a  letter  lately  addressed  by  a  me- 
chanic of  Philadelphia  to  a  member  of  Congress. 

"April  15,  1830. 

"  I  have  been  informed  by  men  of  the  greatest  respcctabih- 
ty,  that,  was  it  not  for  the  exertions  of  the  wives  of  many  of 
the  rope-makers  and  ship-wrights,  they,  with  their  families, 
would  be  at  the  charge  of  the  poor  rates,  such  is  the  falling  oft' 
of  their  respective  business,  more  particularly  of  the  rope-ma- 
kers ;  and,  as  to  myself,  had  I  stood  in  need  of  some  hundreds  of 
hands  the  last  winter,  I  could  have  had  them.  Few  weeks 
pass  but  from  two  to  a  dozen  come  to  ask  for  work.  Many  say 
to  me,  '  Give  me  any  wages  you  like,  for  I  cannot  bear  to  be 
going  about  the  streets  and  my  family  in  want  of  bread  and  all 
other  necessaries  of  life.'  Such  language  as  this,  has  been  held 
to  me  many  times  during  the  last  six  months." 

The  honour  of  having  given  birth  to  the  American  System, 
it  seems,  is  not  due,  as  has  been  commonly  supposed,  to  the 
politicians  and  writers  who  have  been  struggling  for  the  last 
fifteen  years  to  break  down  agriculture,  commerce  and  navi- 
gation, and  to  fix  upon  the  people  of  this  country  a  weight  of 
taxation,  from  which  nature,  in  conferring  upon  them  a  fertile 
soil  and  salubrious  chmate,  and  the  political  institutions  of  the 
country  by  guaranteeing  them  liberty,  intended  that  they  should 
be  exempt.  That  system,  which  after  all  is  nothing  but  the 
cast-off'  and  exploded  bundle  of  absurdities  so  long  cherished 
in  the  dark  days  of  Europe  as  the  mercantile  theory  of  wealth, 
dates  its  introduction  into  this  country,  so  early  as  the  com- 
mencement of  the  last  century.  Of  this  fact  we  were  not  ap- 
prized until  recently,  when,  in  a  weekly  journal,  of  great  value 
for  its  statistical  and  historical  documents,  published  at  Phi- 
ladelphia, we  met  with  the  following  statement. 

From  the  Pennsylvania  Register. 

"1718.  A  petition  was  presented  to  the  Assembly  for  pre- 
vention of  inhabitants  of  Jersey  from  selling  any  meat,  &c.,  in 
the  market. 

"  1722.  A  petition  was  presented  to  the  General  Assembly 
on  behalf  of  day  labourers,  stating  that  the  practice  of  blacks 
being  employed,  was  a  great  disadvantage  to  them  who  had 
emigrated  from  Europe  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  a  liveli- 
hood ;  that  they  were  poor  and  honest,  and  they  therefore  ho- 
ped a  law  would  be  prepared  for  the  prevention  of  employment 
to  the  blacks." 

Thus  it  seems,  that  so  long  ago  as  a  hundred  and  seventeen 
years,  the  same  spirit  of  monopoly  that  has  characterized  the 
farmers  of  Philadelphia  county,  in  their  late  petition  to  Con- 
gress to  shut  out  foreign  provisions,  had  seized  upon  the  phi- 
lanthropic inhabitants  of  the  counties  bordering  upon  the  city  of 
K* 


114  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

brotherly  love,  so  as  to  lead  them  to  regard  their  neighbours 
of  New  Jersey,  situate  on  the  side  of  the  river  opposite  to  Phila- 
delphia, as  foreign  rivals  in  the  market  of  that  city.  Truly, 
when  we  published  some  months  ago,  in  the  Free  Trade  Ad- 
vocate, an  ironical  petition  of  the  Pennsylvania  farmers  pray- 
ing the  City  Councils  to  prohibit  the  importation  into  Philadel- 
phia, of  the  meats,  vegetables  and  fruits  of  Jersey,  M^e  had  not 
the  most  distant  idea  that  so  gross  and  palpable  an  absurd- 
ity could  ever  have  been  seriously  entertained,  as  a  measure 
of  state  policy. 

But  it  seems  that  it  was  not  alone  the  farmers  of  that  day 
who  had  been  seized  with  the  American  System  mania.  The 
"  free  productive  labourers,"  or,  as  Mr.  Niles  also  calls  them, 
"  the  salt  of  the  earth,  the  only  safe  depository  under  heaven 
of  substantial  virtue,"  were  equally  afflicted,  and  they  could  not 
endure  the  idea  of  seeing  an  «nha])py  fellow-creature,  merely 
because  he  happened  to  be  black,  enter  into  competition  with 
them  in  the  market  of  labour.  Now  we  do  really  think,  that 
this  specimen  of  "  the  salt  of  the  earth"  is  widely  different  from 
the  one  which  we  have  been  always  accustomed  to  regard 
with  veneration,  inasmuch  as  this  latter  was  commanded  to 
teach  the  principles  of  kindness,  benevolence,  good  will  and 
christian  charity,  to  every  creature.  But  the  real  fact  is,  that 
the  monopoly,  or  American  System,  in  all  its  forms,  is  the  same 
selfish,  grovelling,  anti-christian  spirit  at  the  present  day,  that  it 
was  a  hundred  or  a  thousand  years  ago,  under  wdiatever  name 
it  may  have  been  presented. 


ESSAY    No.    XL. 

MAY  19,  1830. 


Injurious  mjluence  of  high  duties  upon  foreign  liquors,  on  the 
cause  of  temperance. 

WE  have  been  politely  furnished  by  its  author,  with  the  copy 
of  an  essay  published  in  "  The  New  England  Farmer"  of 
April  30,  "  On  the  means  necessary  to  accomplish  a  total  abo- 
lition of  the  practice  of  drinking  ardent  spirits."  It  is  a  very 
sensible  production,  and  the  writer  professes  to  accomplish  his 
object  in  that  rational  way,  which,  if  adopted  by  the  Tempe- 
rance Societies,  would  more  effectually  tend  to  reform  the  pub- 
lic taste  for  liquor,  than  by  any  compulsory  process,  or  forced 
voluntary  associations,  that  can  be  devised.  In  speaking  of  the 
habit  of  incbrietj',  the  writer  says,  "  Is  it  not  a  cardinal  point 
to  change  this  habit  in  the  natural  way  1  Far  be  it  from  me  to 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  115 

arrest  the  progress  of  exertions  in  the  pulpit — the  diffusion  of 
moral  precepts,  or  to  discourage  the  extension  of  societies  for 
suppressing  intemperance,  and  conventions  to  abstain  from  ar- 
dent spirits.  Our  object  is  to  urge  these  associations  and  the 
community,  especially  the  fairer  and  most  estimable  portion, 
whose  influence  and  handy  works  will  have  commanding  force, 
to  exert  all  their  physical  energies  for  the  diffusion  of  pleasant, 
mild  and  innocent  stimulants  to  suit  the  condition, 'taste,  and 
circumstances  of  all  ranks  and  classes,  throughout  our  whole 
country,  and  place  these  substitutes  within  their  reach  in  the 
most  alluring  forms.  The  substitutes  we  shall  notice  are  the 
fermented  liquors,  such  as  wine,  perry,  cider,  beer,  and  the 
milder  stimulants  and  restoratives  of  tea,  coffee,  cocoa,  choco- 
late, &c." 

The  author  is  a  friend  to  low  duties  on  wine,  tea,  coffee,  &c., 
and  is  of  opinion,  that  in  proportion  to  their  increased  consump- 
tion will  be  the  improvement  of  public  morals.  He  has  quoted 
from  this  paper,  in  support  of  his  views,  some  remarks  made 
by  us  relative  to  the  trade  with  the  island  of  Madeira,  and  the 
letter  which  accompanied  them  from  a  merchant  in  Lancaster, 
shewing  that  the  people  of  that  vicinity  left  off  drinking  wine 
and  took  to  whiskey,  when  the  duty  on  the  former  was  increased. 
There  is,  however,  one  subject  in  connection  with  this  question 
of  temperance,  which  is  worthy  of  consideration,  and  which 
if  properly  understood  and  acted  upon  by  that  portion  of  our 
citizens  who  take  a  zealous  part  in  Temperance  Societies,  could 
not  fail  to  produce  the  most  beneficial  effects. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  great  cause  of  inebriety  in  this 
country  is  the  cheapness  of  whiskey.  A  gallon  can  be  pur- 
chased for  from  20  to  30  cents  in  almost  any  part  of  the  United 
States,  and  as  a  quart  is  worth  but  from  five  to  seven  and  a 
half  cents,  the  means  of  intoxication  are  so  entirely  within  the 
reach  of  every  individual,  that  the  only  wonder  is,  that  there  are 
not  more  drunkards  than  there  are.  Now  as  we  cannot  make 
laws  to  increase  the  price  of  whiskey,  (for  no  majority  in  Con- 
gress since  the  whiskey  insurrections  in  Pennsylvan'a  has  been 
disposed  to  lay  a  direct  tax  on  distillation,)  it  ought  to  be  de- 
sirable to  ascertain  if  there  be  not  some  other  mode  by  ^\  hich 
the  consumption  of  that  liquor  may  be  diminished,  in  addition 
to  those  resorted  to  by  the  Temperance  Societies.  Such  a  mode 
exists,  and  it  simply  consists  in  reducing  the  duty  on  French 
brandy.  West  India  spirits,  and  Holland  gin.  The  duty 
on  the  first  and  second  named  articles  is  53  cents  per  gallon, 
and  on  the  third,  57  cents,  for  first  proof,  and  as  the  market 
price  of  each  is  about  one  dollar  to  one  dollar  ten  cents  per  gal- 
lon, a  reduction  of  the  duty,  consistent  with  all  purposes  of  re- 
venue, might  be  made  to  bring  it  down  to  60  cents  a  gallon. 
Such  a  reduction  would  have  the  effect  of  elevating  the  public 


116  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

taste  for  liquor.  Wc  well  recollect  the  time,  when  the  country 
labourers  in  the  neighbouring  counties  of  Philadelphia,  indig- 
nantly spurned  rye  whiskey.  Apple  brandy  and  rum  was  their 
accustomed  drink,  but  the  superior  cheapness  of  whiskey  tri- 
umphed in  time  over  the  liberality  of  their  employers,  and 
compelled  them  to  accommodate  their  palates  to  the  new 
standard. 

By  the  tariff  of  1790,  the  duty  on  liquors  was  5  per  cent. 
By  the  act  of  1794,  the  duty  on  gin  was  28  cents,  and  on  brandy 
and  spirits,  25.  That  was  the  period  of  temperance.  But  as 
soon  as  the  American  System  made  its  appearance,  sobriety 
was  banished. 

By  the  act  of  1816,  gin  was  raised  to  42  cents,  and  brandy 
and  spirits  to  38 — and  by  the  act  of  1828,  gin  was  further  in- 
creased to  57  cents,  and  brandy  and  spirits  to  53. 

To  judge  from  the  accumulating  clamour  about  intempe- 
rance, it  is  manifest  that  a  fondness  for  liquor  has  kept  pace, 
pari  passu,  with  the  increase  of  duties,  and  the  laws,  as  they 
now  stand,  do  virtually  bear  on  their  face  a  positive  command, 
that  no  poor  man  shall  taste  French  brandy,  Jamaica  spirits,  or 
Holland  gin,  however  much  inclined  he  may  be  to  be  satisfied 
with  a  gill  of  those  palateable  liquors,  in  preference  to  drinking 
a  pint  of  nauseous  whiskey.  Instead  of  letting  him  have  a  drop 
of  comfort,  as  it  was  called  in  olden  time,  he  must  now  be 
drenched  with  a  gallon  of  the  alcohol  of  Indian  corn.  We  think 
it  can  hardly  be  necessary  to  undertake  to  prove,  that,  if  the 
public  taste  were  raised  to  a  higher  standard  by  a  resort  to  more 
expensive  liquors,  there  would  be  a  diminution  of  drunkards. 
The  sum  of  money  which  any  man  can  afford  to  expend  in  li- 
quor, must  always  be  a  limited  one  ;  and  whether  that  sum  be 
small  or  great,  it  will  only  buy  one-half  the  quantity  at  sixty 
cents,  that  it  will  buy  at  thirty.  Of  this  position  we  think  there 
cannot  be  a  doubt,  and  we  will  put  the  question  to  any  man, 
whose  throat  has  not  been  burnt  to  insensibility,  and  whose  ol- 
factories have  not  lost  all  power  of  discriminating  between  a 
pleasant  and  a  nauseous  flavour,  whether  he  would  not,  at  any 
time,  have  an  allowance  of  one  gill  of  old  Jamaica  spirits,  in 
preference  to  two  or  three  gills  of  ?2ew  corn  whiskey? 

All  this  may  be  very  true,  cries  the  moralist  and  the  stickler 
for  Temperance  Societies,  but  then  the  American  System? 
Very  well,  gentlemen,  if  you  prefer  the  American  System  and 
a  nation  of  sots,  to  Free  Trade  and  a  sober  population,  be  it  so. 
You  only  thereby  shew  the  depth  of  your  philanthopy  to  be 
equal  to  that  of  the  patriotism  of  some  others  we  could  point 
out.  But  what  would  you  say,  if  we  could  prove  to  you,  with 
the  clearness  of  mathematical  demonstration,  that  the  substitu- 
tion of  foreign  liquors  for  domestic,  instead  of  injuring  the  agri- 
cultural interest  would  positively  benefit  it,  and  that  thus  Pro- 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  117 

vidence  has  very  wisely  directed  that  the  physical  and  moral 
happiness  of  man  are  to  be  promoted  by  the  same  measures? 
We  pledge  ourselves  to  do  this  in  our  next  paper. 


ESSAY    No.   XL  I. 


MAY  19,  1830. 

The  protective  policy  of  the  United  States  falls  more  heavily 
upon  the  poor  than  upon  the  rich.  Quantity  of  salt  produced 
and  consumed  in  the  United  States.  The  duty  is  so  great, 
that  it  ivould  be  for  the  interest  of  the  consumers  to  raise  a 
fund  for  the  support  of  the  salt  makers,  if  they  icould  consent 
to  take  it  off. 

THE  United  States  is  the  first  government  ever  established 
for  the  benefit  of  the  people,  that  has  acted  upon  the  principle 
that  the  poorer  a  man  is,  the  more  heavily  ought  he  to  be  tax- 
ed. In  Great  Britain,  where,  by  means  of  rotten  boroughs  and 
disproportioned  representations,  the  landed  interest  can  always 
secure  a  majority  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  where,  by  the 
constitution  of  the  kingdom,  the  mighty  land  owners  have  the 
right  by  birth  to  make  laws  for  the  plebeian  multitude,  it  is  very 
natural  to  expect,  from  the  selfish  spirit  of  man,  that  the  weight 
of  the  national  burthens  should  be  made  to  fall  upon  the  labour- 
ing people.  Hence  have  sprung  up  corn  laws,  by  which  a  tax 
is  laid  upon  bread  of  at  least  fifty  millions  of  dollars  a  year  (es- 
timating the  population  at  20  millions,  and  the  increased  price 
at  only  2^  dollars  per  head)  for  the  benefit,  not  of  the  farmers, 
nor  of  the  agricultural  labourers,  but  of  the  landed  proprietors, 
who  pocket  this  enormous  sum  in  the  shape  of  increased  rent, 
as  a  hundred  and  fifty  owners  of  iron  mines,  furnaces  and  for- 
ges, in  this  country,  pocket  the  tax  of  two  millions,  paid  by  the 
consumers  of  iron,  which  Congress,  in  its  zeal  for  "  the  general 
welfare,"  has  extorted  by  law  from  the  farmers  and  mechanics 
and  merchants. 

It  is  true,  that  our  laws  do  not  throw  the  taxation  upon 
bread.  But  they  throw  it  upon  other  articles  of  prime  necessi- 
ty, and  here  we  shall  take  occasion  to  copy,  from  an  able  and 
justly  celebrated  article,  which  appeared  in  the  Southern  Re- 
view"^ for  November,  1828,  the  following  eloquent  and  expressive 

language. 

'  '^  We  might  extend  the  enumeration  to  almost  every  article 
of  human  consumption  to  be  found  on  the  list  of  imports. 
Wherever  we  go,  and  whatever  we  do,  we  are  in  contact  with 
the  emblems  of  oppression.     When  we  lie  down  at  night,  we  are 

I 


118  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

covered  with  ihem.  When  we  get  up  in  the  morning,  we  are 
clothed  with  them.  Wlien  we  sit  down  to  our  frugal  repast, 
we  swallow  them  in  our  food.  When  we  go  into  the  fields  to 
perform  tiie  daily  labours  of  husbandry,  we  see  and  handle  them 
in  every  implement  we  use.  The  very  light  of  heaven  comes 
to  us  in  our  dwellings,  heavily  charged  with  tributary  taxa- 
tion. In  a  word  it  may  be  said,  almost  without  a  figure,  that 
*  from  the  crown  of  our  head  to  the  sole  of  our  feet,'  we  are, 
already,  even  in  the  infancy  of  our  government,  '  covered  all 
over'  with  taxation,  and  unjust,  if  not  unconstitutional,  imposi- 
tions." 

With  respect  to  the  article  of  salt,  there  is  no  principle  of 
policy  or  justice  which  demands  the  continuance  of  the  duty. 
The  government  will  shortly  have  a  revenue  far  beyond  its 
wants,  and  every  one  who  has  visited  the  interior  of  the  coun- 
try, where  salt,  from  the  expense  of  transportation,  can  only  be 
procured  at  a  high  price,  is  acquainted  with  the  fact,  that  vast 
quantities  of  meat  are  spoiled  every  year  in  curing,  owing  to  the 
necessity  into  which  the  poorer  class  of  farmers  are  driven,  to 
use  the  smallest  possible  quantity  of  salt.  And  why,  let  us  ask, 
is  the  poor  man's  porridge  to  be  taxed,  and  why  are  the  hardy 
yeomanry  of  the  country,  who  taste  fresh  meat  only  once  in  a 
week  or  a  month,  to  be  burthened,  in  order  to  enable  the  rich 
to  eat  fresh  meat  every  day  1  Reader,  have  you  any  curiosity  to 
know  the  reason  why  'I  It  can  be  easily  gratified.  It  is  because  a 
few  individuals  in  Massachusetts  and  other  states  on  the  seaboard, 
have  entered  into  the  lists  of  competition  in  the  process  of  con- 
verting the  water  of  the  ocean  into  salt  by  evaporation,  with 
the  inhabitants  of  Turks  Island  and  Exuma,  and  as  the  sun  does 
not  work  as  hard  in  this  operation  in  a  cold  climate,  as  he  does 
within  the  tropics,  the  laws  of  nature  are  aided  by  a  law  of 
Congress,  which  says.  What  the  sun  fails  to  put  into  the  pockets 
of  the  salt  manufacturers  of  New  England,  shall  be  supplied  by 
the  labouring  people  of  the  country.  But  there  is  another  rea- 
son. The  great,  powerful,  and  wealthy  state  of  New  York, 
possesses  salt  lakes  so  rich  in  product,  that,  after  paying  the 
expense  of  fuel  to  boil  the  water,  the  salt  can  be  sold  for  8  or 
9  cents  per  bushel ;  and,  availing  herself  of  this  great  natural 
blessing  to  increase  her  revenue,  she  has  imposed  a  duty  of  12^ 
cents  per  bushel,  equal  to  ISSj  per  cent,  upon  the  cost  of  the 
article.  It  is  to  enable  New  York  to  collect  this  local  tax, 
which  amounted  last  year  to  more  than  $157,000,  that  she 
combines  with  other  protecting  interests  to  perpetuate  a  national 
tax,  which  amounted  last  year,  in  the  form  of  duties  alone,  to 
$714,618.  As  proof  of  what  is  here  asserted,  wo  refer  to  the 
speech  of  Mr.  Mavnard  in  the  Senate  of  New  York,  which  was 
published  in  the  National  Intelligencer  of  the  14th  inst. 

The  reasons  however  in  favour  of  the  salt  tax,  are  not  limit- 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  119 

ed  to  these  two.  There  is  yet  another.  It  is  this.  The  pro- 
prietors of  the  great  western  salt  works,  being  few  in  number, 
and  having  a  complete  monopoly  of  the  supply  of  the  Western 
country,  have  combined  together  to  put  money  into  each  other's 
pockets,  by  keeping  up  the  price  of  salt ;  and  as  the  process  of 
boring  for  salt  springs,  to  the  depth  of  several  hundred  feet,  is 
a  costly  operation,  and  very  often  proves  abortive,  the  check  to 
monopoly  is  limited  to  a  few  capitalists,  who,  after  they  suc- 
ceed, find  it  for  their  interest  to  combine  with  the  rest.  The 
fact,  that  the  proprietors  of  two  of  the  principal  works  in  West- 
ern Virginia  and  Pennsylvania  had  mutually  agreed  not  to  un- 
dersell one  another  in  the  Cincinnati  market,  was  derived  by  us, 
last  year,  from  one  of  the  individuals  most  deeply  interested  in 
one  of  those  establishments. 

The  quantity  of  salt  now  produced  in  the  whole  United  States, 
does  not  exceed  4,500,000  bushels  of  5G  lbs.  The  quantity  im- 
ported last  year  was  near  6  million  bushels  ;  so  that  for  the  sake 
of  encouraging  the  forced  manufacture  of  4^  millions  of  bush- 
els, which,  at  the  rate  at  which  it  can  be  produced  in  New 
York,  would  be  of  the  value  of  but  385,000  dollars,  the  nation 
is  made  to  pay  20  cents  a  bushel  upon  IO2  millions  of  bushels, 
equal  to  the  enormous  tax  of  $2,100,000.  Why,  it  would  be 
far  better  for  the  people  to  raise  by  subscription  a  million  of 
dollars  per  annum,  and  pay  to  the  manufacturers  of  salt  to  stand 
idle,  rather  than  to  continue  this  encouragement,  as  it  is  call- 
ed, of  domestic  industry.  The  admission  of  Mr.  Maynard,  in 
the  speech  above  referred  to,  is  conclusive  on  the  subject  as  a 
question  of  protection  to  American  industry.  He  shews  con- 
clusively, that  salt  can  be  manufactured  at  Salina  at  less  than 
half  the  price  at  which  it  can  be  imported  free  of  duty,  and 
consequently  the  domestic  manufacturer  stands  in  no  need  of 
protection.  But  the  coffers  of  the  state  of  New  York  must 
be  replenished,  and  the  people  of  the  United  States  must  be 
called  upon  to  make  up  the  deficit.  Can  any  thing  be  imagin- 
ed miore  arbitrary  or  unjust  ?  In  the  name  of  common  equity, 
if  we  must  pay  through  the  nose,  for  the  support  of  private  and 
unfortunate  speculators,  to  save  them  from  loss,  let  us  not  also 
be  called  upon  to  enrich  the  wealthiest  state  in  the  Union,  by 
taxing  every  spoonful  of  salt  which  we  put  in  our  bread,  our 
butter,  and  our  pickling  tubs,  and  upon  every  grain  that  we 
put  in  our  mouths.  We  hope  the  present  session  of  Congress 
will  not  close  without  wiping  out  this  vestige  of  oppression  and 
injustice  from  our  statute  books. 


120  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 


ESSAY    No.  X  L  1 1. 

MAY  22.  1830. 

A  reduction  of  the  duties  on  foreign  liquors  icould  promote  the 
cause  of  agriculture.  This  proved,  hy  reference  to  our  trade 
with  the  West  Indies,  France  and  Holland. 

IN  our  last  paper  we  promised  to  shew  to  the  Temperance 
Societies,  that  a  reduction  of  the  duty  on  West  India  spirits, 
Frencli  brandy,  and  Holland  gin,  so  as  to  enable  the  importer 
to  sell  those  articles  at  00  cents  a  gallon  instead  of  a  dollar, 
(the  present  wholesale  price,)  besides  encouraging  temperance, 
would  promote,  instead  of  injure,  the  interests  of  agriculture ; 
and  we  think  if  we  can  make  out  our  case,  that  we  have  a  right 
to  claim  their  adhesion  to  the  cause  of  free  trade. 

West  India  spirits  is  an  article  imported  from  Jamaica,  St. 
Croix,  Antigua,  or  the  other  islands,  where  it  costs  about  40 
cents  a  gallon,  a  little  more  or  less.  The  people  who  make  it, 
have  a  queer  notion  that  those  who  want  it  ought  to  pay  for  it ; 
and  although  we  have  often  heard  arguments  in  support  of  the 
American  System,  which  supposed  that  the  British  were  a  gene- 
rous people,  who  would  send  their  cotton  and  woollen  goods  to 
the  United  States  and  give  them  to  us  for  nothing,  yet  we  have 
never  heard  of  any  West  India  planter  being  so  liberal.  In 
fine,  the  producers  of  rum  insist  upon  it  that  commerce  is  an 
exchange  of  equivalents,  and  that  for  every  gallon  of  rum  they 
sell,  they  must  have  forty  cents  worth  of  some  other  thing.  In- 
deed their  stubbornness  upon  this  point  is  so  well  known,  that 
the  American  merchants,  when  they  send  a  vessel  to  the  West 
Indies  to  get  a  cargo  of  rum,  never  think  of  asking  for  it  for 
nothing,  but  always  take  with  them  something  to  swop  for  the 
rum.  The  articles  generally  taken  for  this  purpose,  are  those 
which  the  planter  stands  more  in  need  of  than  he  does  of  li- 
quor, and  these  articles  consist  mostly  of  the  products  of  agri- 
culture, such  as  staves  and  heading,  shingles,  boards  and  planks, 
timber,  lumber,  masts,  spars,  tar,  pitch,  rosin,  turpentine,  skins, 
furs,  beef,  tallow,  horned  cattle,  butter,  lard,  pork,  cheese,  hams, 
bacon,  hogs,  horses,  mules,  sheep,  fliour,  Indian  corn,  corn  meal, 
rye  meal,  rye,  oats  and  other  small  grain,  biscuit,  ship-bread, 
potatoes,  apples,  rice,  tobacco,  beer,  porter,  leather,  candles, 
soap,  hops,  linseed  oil,  vinegar,  and  some  other  articles.  Now 
any  man  who  has  ever  looked  over  an  invoice  of  a  cargo  des- 
tined for  the  West  Indies,  will  have  discovered  that  nine-tenths 
of  it  invariably  consist  of  the  products  of  agriculture,  and 
chiefly  of  flour,  corn  meal,  pork,  lard,  hams,  bacon,  and  lum- 
ber ;  and  as  in  our  trade  with  the  West  Indies  our  vessels  bring 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  121 

back  in  rum,  sugar,  coffee,  &c.,  no  more  than  the  quantity  pur- 
chased with  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the  outward  cargo,  it 
follows  that,  for  every  gallon  of  spirits  we  import,  a  sale  has 
been  effected  of  agricultural  produce,  worth  in  the  West  Indies, 
after  the  addition  of  freight,  insurance,  commissions,  &c.,  forty 
cents,  and  which  had  cost  at  home,  before  shipment,  we  will 
suppose,  thirty  cents.  In  other  words,  for  every  100  gallons 
of  rum  we  import,  our  farmers  sell  thirty  dollars  worth  of  pro- 
duce, and  whether  that  produce  be  in  one  form  or  the  other,  is 
of  no  sort  of  consequence  to  their  interests. 

The  question  now  presents  itself,  if,  instead  of  selling  this 
produce  to  the  West  India  planters,  for  rum,  the  farmer  sells  it 
to  the  domestic  distiller  for  whiskey,  what  demand  will  be  made 
upon  agriculture  to  supply  the  demand  for  100  gallons  of  whis- 
key ?  This  question  is  very  easy  of  solution.  It  is  known  to 
every  one,  who  has  made  inquiries  of  distillers  on  the  subject, 
that  one  bushel  of  corn,  out  of  which  all  the  cheap  rye  whiskey 
is  made,  will  produce  two  gallons  and  a  half  of  w^hiskey,  and 
consequently  forty  bushels  will  produce  a  hundred  gallons. 
The  next  question  is,  what  is  the  value  at  the  still-house  of  a 
bushel  of  corn  ?  In  some  places,  as  in  Ohio,  it  is  as  low  as  25 
cents,  and  even  lower,  and  in  no  place  w^here  distilleries  are  es- 
tablished, is  it  higher  than  50  cents,  the  average  of  which  is 
37|^  cents.  It  follow's,  therefore,  that  for  every  gallon  of  whis- 
key consumed  in  the  country,  there  is  a  demand  upon  agricul- 
ture for  only  fifteen  cents  worth  of  produce,  which  is  precisely 
one-half  the  quantity  which  would  be  required  to  meet  the  de- 
mand for  one  gallon  of  West  India  rum.  If  this  reasoning  can 
be  controverted,  w^e  should  like  to  see  it  done.  We  have  never 
yet  found  a  reasoner  who  could  advance  even  a  plausible  ar- 
gument in  opposition  to  it,  and  we  now  challenge  the  whole 
school  of  American  System  philosophers  to  meet  us  upon  this 
point,  and  we  will  cheerfully  publish  their  communications. 

It  may  indeed  be  urged,  that  by  the  present  cheapness  of 
whiskey,  a  greater  quantity  is  consumed  than  would  be  con- 
sumed of  foreign  spirits  at  double  the  price.  That  is  no  doubt 
true ;  but  although  that  would  be  an  argument  for  the  distillers 
of  Lancaster  county,  and  for  the  American  System  politicians, 
it  is  not  such  a  one  as  the  Temperance  Societies  should  employ. 
It  is  indeed  a  lamentable  truth,  that  the  American  System  has 
not  only  struck  a  deadly  blow^  at  the  physical  prosperity  of  the 
people,  but  has  done  more  to  sap  and  undermine  the  morals  of 
the  nation,  by  converting  honest  and  sober  peo])le  into  smugglers 
and  drunkards,  than  can  be  easily  remedied,  and  those  who 
have  been  instrumental  in  its  establishment,  will  some  day,  we 
trust,  feel  the  responsibility  they  have  incurred. 

Having   thus,  as  we    conceive,  settled   one  branch  of  the 
subject,  we  shall  now  take  up  the  case  of  French  brandy.     We 
J-i 


122  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

export  to  France,  annually,  eight  or  nine  millions  of  dollars 
worth  of  agricultural  produce,  consisting  chiefly  of  rice,  cotton, 
and  tobacco.  Although  these  articles  grow  south  of  Mason 
and  Dixon's  line,  they  are  not  the  less,  on  that  account,  the 
products  of  agriculture.  Every  pipe  of  100  gallons  of  French 
brandy,  therefoi'e,  shut  out  of  the  country  by  high  duties,  occa- 
sions a  diminished  demand  upon  the  products  of  the  planting 
states,  for  thirty  dollars  worth  of  cotton,  rice  and  tobacco, 
whereas  a  hundred  gallons  of  whiskey  creates  a  demand,  as  in 
the  above  case,  for  only  fifteen  dollars  worth. 

The  case  is  the  same  in  regard  to  Holland  gin.  We  export 
to  Holland,  annually,  about  two  millions  of  dollars  value  of  do- 
mestic products,  chiefly  consisting  of  pot  and  pearl  ashes,  rice, 
cotton,  and  tobacco,  and  the  same  result  takes  place  as  has 
been  described  in  relation  to  brandy.  If  Wiesp  anchor  gin 
were  drank  instead  of  whiskey,  each  gallon  would  occasion  a 
demand  upon  agriculture  for  double  the  amount  created  by  a 
demand  for  a  gallon  of  whiskey. 

Perhaps  it  will  be  said  that  these  nations  would  not  purchase 
of  us  more  largely  than  they  now  do,  if  the  duty  on  their  li- 
quors were  reduced.  If  that  should  be  the  case,  then  it  would 
be  very  clear  that  we  could  not  buy  any  more  of  their  liquors. 
A  country  which  possesses  no  mines  of  gold  and  silver,  can 
only  pay  for  what  it  purchases  abroad,  with  agricultural  pro- 
ductions or  manufactures,  and  if  she  has  none  that  will  suit  the 
countries  of  which  she  wishes  to  purchase,  she  cannot  buy  their 
commodities.  Neither  the  Frenchman  nor  the  Dutchman  will 
give  us  his  liquor  for  nothing,  and  there  need  therefore  be 
no  fears  that  the  country  would  be  inundated  with  brandy  and 
gin.  At  all  events  we  should  lose  nothing  by  trying  the  expe- 
riment, and  as  the  agriculturists  are  the  people  mainly  interest- 
ed in  this  question,  we  can  assure  them,  that  if  they  wish  to  con- 
sult their  own  true  interest,  they  will  give  it  a  trial,  for  if  it  fails, 
the  domestic  distillation  is  always  at  hand  to  place  matters  in 
statu  quo,  and  as  for  the  duty,  the  government  no  longer  needs 
it  for  revenue. 

But  even  supposing,  what  we  arc  sure  would  take  place,  that 
there  would  not  be  as  many  gallons  of  foreign  liquor  drank  at 
60  cents,  as  there  now  is  of  whiskey,  the  reduction  would  have 
to  be  very  great  indeed  to  reduce  the  demand  for  the  produc- 
tions of  agriculture  below  what  it  now  is,  for  we  have  shewn 
that  one-half  of  the  whole  number  of  gallons  might  be  curtailed 
without  diminishing  the  value  of  the  productions  necessary  to 
procure  them  with.  But  even  if  the  reduction  were  to  be  much 
greater  than  one-half,  still  agriculture  would  not  suffer.  The 
sobriety  of  the  people,  consequent  upon  drinking  only  a  gill, 
where  they  used  to  drink  a  pint,  would  promote  industry,  de- 
cency, education  and  improved  manners;  and  the  inevitable  ef- 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  123 

feet  of  this  would  be  to  increase  the  demand  upon  agriculture 
for  those  other  productions,  belonging  to  the  comforts  and  luxu- 
ries of  the  table,  which  whiskey-topers  never  aspire  to.  In 
these  opinions  we  are  strongly  confirmed ;  and  if  the  Temper- 
ance Societies  will  only  examine  the  subject,  they  will  find  that 
the  remedy  for  inebriety,  which  we  have  suggested,  will  be  a 
powerful  coadjutor  to  their  other  exertions. 


ESSAY     No.   XL  1 1 1. 

MAY  29,  1830. 


American  industry  promoted  as  much  hy  the  consumption  of 
foreign  commodities,  as  hy  that  of  domestic  productions. 

IT  is  truly  extraordinary  to  see  the  pertinacity  with  which 
the  American  System  philosophers  hold  on  to  the  doctrine  that 
agriculture  is  not  American  industry.  Now  if  the  planting  and 
harrowing  of  land,  the  sowing  of  seed,  the  gathering  of  the  crop, 
and  the  hauling  of  it  to  market,  all  performed  on  American 
soil,  under  the  jurisdiction  of  American  laws,  under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  American  government,  and  by  American  citizens, 
is  not  American  industry — we  should  like  to  know  what  right 
spinning  and  weaving,  and  especially  when  they  are  perform- 
ed, as  they  are  to  a  great  extent,  by  foreigners,  have  to  the  ap- 
pellation ?  But  who  says  that  the  labour  of  the  husbandman  or 
the  planter  is  not  American  industry  ?  We  answer,  all  the  re- 
strictive writers  who  touch  the  subject.  They  do  not,  it  is 
true,  make  the  assertion  in  direct  terms,  for  that  would  injure 
their  cause  with  the  farmers,  who,  forming  a  majority  of  the 
nation,  can  control  its  political  course.  But  they  constantly 
do  it  indirectly,  when  they  boast  that  a  piece  of  home-made 
cloth  is  the  product  of  domestic  industry,  and  deny  that  apiece 
of  foreign  cloth  is.  For  how  can  a  piece  of  foreign  cloth  be 
brought  into  the  country,  except  in  exchange  for  some  product 
of  agriculture?  And  how  can  a  product  of  agriculture  be 
brought  into  existence  except  by  the  exercise  of  American  in- 
dustry ?  If  a  Pennsylvania  farmer  raises  five  bushels  of  wheat, 
converts  it  into  flour,  and  sells  that  flour  abroad  for  a  yard  of 
cloth,  has  not  as  much  American  industry  been  employed  in 
procuring  that  yard  of  cloth  as  if  it  was  the  produce  of  one  of 
our  own  factories  ?  How  any  one  can  deny  a  truth  so  self-evi- 
dent, it  is  not  easy  to  perceive,  and  yet  it  is,  as  we  have  said, 
denied  every  day,  and  even  by  many  who  should  know  better. 
For  those,  however,  who  are  innocently  in  error  on  the  subject, 
we  will  offer  a  few  illustrations : 


124  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

"  Louisiana  sugar,"  say  the  restrictionists,  "  is  the  product  of 
domestic  industry — West  India  sugar  is  not."  But  West  India 
sugar  is  altogether  purchased  with  flour,  corn  meal,  lard,  but- 
ter, beef,  pork,  and  other  j^roductions  of  agriculture.  Is  not 
therefore  the  labour  of  the  Pennsylvania  or  Ohio  farmer  as 
much  instrumental  in  producing  the  foreign  sugar,  as  the  la- 
bour of  the  Louisiana  planter,  in  producing  the  domestic? 

Again,  the  same  reasoners  say,  that  the  iron  produced  by 
the  iron  masters  of  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  &c.,  is  the  product 
of  American  industry,  but  that  English,  Russian  and  Swedish 
iron  is  not.  And  yet  English,  Russian  and  Swedish  iron  could 
not  possibly  be  procured  but  in  exchange  for  agricultural  pro- 
ductions. Sometimes,  indeed,  this  exchange  is  not  a  direct  one. 
Very  often  we  send  a  cargo  of  flour  to  the  West  Indies  or  Bra- 
zil, exchange  it  there  for  sugar  or  coffee,  and  with  that  sugar  or 
coffee  go  to  Europe  and  purchase  the  iron.  When,  however, 
such  circuitous  voyages  are  undertaken,  it  is  because  more  iron 
can  be  procured  for  the  ffour,  even  after  paying  the  double 
freight  and  expenses,  than  could  be  procured  by  a  direct  barter, 
or  otherwise  it  would  not  be  done,  and  it  can  be  of  no  sort  of 
consequence  to  us  whether  the  voyage  be  direct  or  indirect, 
provided  w-e  obtain  the  most  profitable  result.  Now,  if  ten  bar- 
rels of  flour  can  be  sent  to  the  Havana,  and  be  there  converted  in- 
to as  much  sugar  as  will  procure  a  ton  of  iron  in  St.  Petersburgh, 
we  should  wish  to  know  whether  American  industry  has  not 
been  applied  to  the  procuring  of  it,  as  much  as  if  a  ton  of  iron 
had  been  smelted  and  hammered  from  ore  dug  up  in  Lancaster 
county  ? 

Again  we  are  told,  that  salt,  manufactured  at  Salina  in  New 
York,  at  Concmaugh  in  Pennsylvania,  and  Kenhawa  in  Virgi- 
nia, is  the  product  of  American  industry ;  but  that  salt  imported 
from  Lisbon,  Cadiz,  and  Turks  Island,  is  not.  Now  is  it  sup- 
posed that  the  salt  makers  of  those  places  give  us  their  salt  for 
nothing  ?  We  hardly  think  that  any  one  will  advance  such  an 
absurd  position.  We  must  therefore  pay  for  it.  And  how  can 
a  nation,  which  has  no  gold  and  silver  mines,  pay  for  foreign 
products  but  by  domestic  products  ?  And  if  we  pay  for  salt  with 
flour,  and  other  similar  productions,  or,  what  is  the  same  thing, 
with  commodities  purchased  abroad  in  exchange  for  those  pro- 
ductions, why  is  not  foreign  salt  as  much  the  product  of  Ame- 
rican industry  as  domestic-made  salt  ? 

The  same  reasoning  applies  to  all  articles  of  foreign  produc- 
tion. They  ore  all  the  productions  of  domestic  labour,  and  are 
as  much  entitled  to  the  rank  of  American  industry  as  any  spe- 
cies of  labour  performed  with  the  spindle  or  loom.  It  is  true, 
that  foreign  products  are  not  always  procured  by  an  immedi- 
ate exchange  for  domestic  products.  Wherever  this,  however, 
is  not  the  case,  as  we  have  already  remarked,  it  is  always  be- 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  125 

cause,  by  pursuing  an  indirect  exchange  through  the  inter- 
vention of  a  third  party,  a  more  profitable  barter  can  be  made. 
And  sureiy  no  individual  would  condemn  another  for  making  a 
circuitous  bargain,  by  which  he  could  put  more  into  his  pocket 
than  by  making  a  direct  one.  Who  would  say  that  the  larmer 
was  unwise,  who,  having  wool  for  sale,  and  wishing  a  pair  of 
boots,  should  prefer  giving  it  to  the  hatter  for  an  order  upon  the 
boot-maker  for  a  pair  of  boots,  rather  than  insisting  upon  a  di- 
rect exchange  with  the  boot-maker,  who,  not  being  in  want  of 
wool,  should  refuse  to  give  him  for  it,  more  than  a  pair  of 
shoes  ?  And  how  then  can  it  be  maintained,  as  some  of  our  po- 
liticians do,  that,  unless  w^e  can  make  a  direct  exchange  with 
a  foreign  nation,  it  is  unprofitable  to  trade  with  her?  If,  say 
they.  Great  Britain  will  not  give  us  as  much  for  our  flour  as  the 
West  Indians  and  South  Americans  will  give,  our  true  policy 
is  not  to  exchange  cotton  with  her  for  her  manufactures,  al- 
though she  is  willing  to  give  us  for  it  more  than  any  other  na- 
tion, and  to  take  from  us  as  much  as  we  can  raise  and  are 
willing  to  let  her  have,  for  its  proper  equivalent  in  her  produc- 
tions. This  is  precisely  the  same  thing  as  if  the  farmer  we 
have  just  referred  to,  should  say  that,  because  the  boot-maker 
would  not  give  him  as  much  as  the  hatter  for  his  w'ool,  he  would 
not  sell  him  wheat  for  a  pair  of  boots,  when  nobody  else  v^^ould 
give  him  for  it  more  than  a  pair  of  shoes.  It  is  really  time  that 
our  soi-disant  statesmen  should  abandon  such  childish  argu- 
ments, and  look  at  things  as  they  really  are.  The  true  state 
of  the  case  is  this  :  Pennsylvania  raises  wheat,  and  wants 
woollen  cloths.  She  says  to  Great  Britain,  I  will  give  you 
flour  for  manufactured  goods.  Great  Britain  says,  Agreed — I 
consent  to  the  exchange.  But  Pennsylvania  says.  You  will  not 
give  me  as  much  for  my  flour  as  I  can  get  from  others.  That 
may  be,  replies  Great  Britain,  and  therefore  your  best  policy 
will  be,  to  let  your  neighbours,  Carolina,  Georgia,  &c.,  have 
your  flour  in  exchange  for  their  cotton,  and  I  will  let  you  have 
for  the  cctton  more  manufactured  goods  than  you  can  get  from 
any  other  European  nation,  and  twice  as  much  as  you  can 
make  at  home,  with  the  same  number  of  hands  now  employed 
in  raising  the  flour  with  which  they  will  be  paid  for.  Penn- 
sylvania consents,  and  it  is  by  this  roundabout  process  that 
she  does  actually  at  this  time  pay  for  nearly  all  the  British 
goods  she  receives,  amounting  to  several  millions  of  dollars  an- 
nually. And  now,  w^e  would  ask,  is  not  this  circuitous  mode 
of  dealing  with  Great  Britain  more  advantageous  to  Pennsvl- 
vania  than  a  direct  exchange  of  flour  for  manufactures  would 
be?  And  is  not  as  inuch  American  industry  employed  by  that 
mode  of  procuring  cloths  as  would  be  set  in  motion  by  taking 
the  labouring  man  from  the  tail  of  the  plough  and  putting  him 
to  work  in  a  factory  ? 


126  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 


ESSAY    No.   XL  IV. 

JUNE  9,  1830. 

The  consumption  of  commodities  diminishes  as  prices  rise. 
Proved,  in  reference  to  the  price  of  ice  in  Philadelphia,  in 
1828.     Danger  of  tampering  with  commerce. 

IT  is  known  to  every  one,  that,  as  commodities  rise  in  price, 
their  consumption  is  diminished,  and  that,  as  they  fall  in  price, 
their  consumption  is  increased.  The  ratio,  however,  of  the  di- 
minution or  the  increase,  is  not  the  same  in  regard  to  all  com- 
modities. A  rise  in  the  price  o{  the  necessaries  of  life,  will  not 
occasion  as  great  a  diminution  of  the  ordinary  consumption,  as 
a  rise  in  the  price  of  the  comforts  of  life ;  nor  will  a  rise  in  the 
price  of  these  latter  articles  occasion  so  great  a  diminution  as 
a  rise  in  the  price  of  luxuries.  So,  on  the  other  hand,  a  fall  in 
the  price  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  will  not  increase  the  consump- 
tion, so  much  as  a  fall  in  the  price  of  the  comforts  of  life  will 
increase  the  consumption  of  these  latter ;  nor  will  a  fall  in  the 
price  of  the  comforts  of  life,  increase  their  consumption  so  much 
as  a  fall  in  the  price  of  luxuries  will  increase  their  consumption. 
Each  article,  too,  of  each  class,  is  governed,  perhaps,  by  difTer- 
ent  proportions,  and  therefore  there  is  no  fixed  rule  by  which  a 
general  scale  can  be  formed.  But  we  will  illustrate  these  po- 
sitions. 

A  rise  in  the  price  of  flour  from  five  dollars  to  ten  dollars  per 
barrel,  which  is  one  hundred  per  cent.,  would  not  reduce  the 
consumption  of  bread  to  one-half  the  usual  quantity,  because, 
being  a  necessary  of  life,  it  could  not  be  dispensed  with  in  that 
proportion.  But  a  rise  in  the  price  of  tea  and  coffee  and  other 
such  articles,  which  belong  to  the  class  of  comforts,  to  double 
the  usual  rates  of  the  market,  would  diminish  their  consumption 
to  a  quantity  less  than  one-half,  and  for  the  reason  that  the  mass 
I  of  consumers  have  limited  incomes,  and  have  no  more  than  a 
certain  sum  to  expend  in  such  articles,  so  that  resort  would  be 
had  by  a  great  portion  of  the  community  to  substitutes,  such  as 
rye  and  beans,  whilst  others  would  use  milk,  &c.  A  rise  in  the 
price  of  wines  and  other  luxuries  to  the  extent  of  one  hundred 
per  cent.,  would  reduce  their  consumption  much  below  one- 
half,  for,  being  articles  which  could  easily  be  dispensed  with, 
they  would  readily  be  laid  aside.  That  these  positions  are  cor- 
rect, with  some  few  exceptions,  will  be  manifest,  from  what  is 
exhibited  in  the  daily  transactions  of  life.  Almost  every  econo- 
mical family  has  rules  as  to  the  maximum  price  which  it  is  wil- 
ling to  pay  for  articles  in  the  market.  Where  there  are  one 
hundred  persons,  who  would  give  twenty-five  cents  per  pound 
for  butter,  there  are  not  half  that  number  who  would  give  fifty 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  127 

cents,  even  for  reduced  quantities.  Some  persons  make  it  a  rule 
never  to  buy  eggs  at  a  higher  price  than  a  particular  rate  per 
dozen,  whilst  others,  in  the  season  for  lamb,  asparagus,  green 
peas,  strawberries,  and  fruits,  never  buy  those  luxuries  at  all, 
until  they  fall  to  the  prices  which  they  have  laid  down  as  their 
maximums. 

This  being  the  case  as  it  regards  a  rise  in  prices,  it  follows, 
that  the  v^ery  opposite  results  would  flow  from  a  fall  in  prices. 
A  fall  in  the  price  of  flour,  to  one-half,  would  not  double  the 
consumption.  One,  in  the  price  of  tea  and  coftee,  to  that  extent, 
would,  no  doubt,  double  it ;  whilst  one  in  the  price  of  wine 
might  carry  the  increase  of  consumption  much  farther. 

A  curious  and  striking  illustration  of  the  operation  of  price 
upon  consumption,  in  regard  to  an  article  of  luxury,  was  com- 
municated to  us  last  year.  The  custom  of  carrying  about  the 
streets  of  Philadelphia,  in  the  summer  season,  the  article  of  ice, 
for  the  use  of  families,  was  introduced  about  twenty-five  years 
ago.  From  that  period  until  the  year  1827,  the  consumption 
gradually  increased,  insomuch  that,  in  that  year,  as  many  as 
3000  families  received  a  daily  supply,  equal,  on  an  average,  to 
about  half-a-peck  per  day,  at  thirty-seven  and  a  half  cents  per 
week.  The  winter  of  1827-8  having  been  so  mild  that  no  ice 
was  formed  in  that  vicinity,  a  foreign  supply  was  looked  to, 
when  it  was  calculated  that  ice,  imported  from  New  England, 
could  not  be  delivered  to  customers  for  less  than  four  times  the 
old  price,  that  is,  one  dollar  and  a  half  per  week  for  half  a  peck 
per  day.  To  ascertain  the  quantity  which  would  be  required 
by  the  demand  at  this  increased  price,  the  dealers  in  the  article 
united  in  an  estimate,  by  which  it  was  assumed  that  one-fourth 
the  usual  supply  would  be  called  for,  being  the  proportion  cor- 
responding to  the  rise  in  price.  The  result,  however,  did  not 
confirm  the  correctness  of  this  calculation.  Instead  of  seven 
hundred  and  fifty  consumers,  the  anticipated  number,  the  num- 
ber was  less  than  four  hundred,  and  of  these,  many  diminished 
their  quantity,  so  that  it  appeared  that,  for  every  one  thousand 
bushels  sold  at  the  low  price,  not  more  than  about  one  hundred 
were  demanded  at  the  high  price.  Another  example  occurred 
in  the  case  of  the  sale  of  mineral  water.  A  number  of  the  deal- 
ers, on  account  of  the  dcarness  of  ice  at  that  time,  doubled  the 
price,  but  the  consumption  fell  off"  so  greatly,  that  in  a  very  short 
time  they  were  obliged  to  fall  back  to  the  old  rate. 

Our  object  in  bringing  these  merely  speculative  truths  into 
view,  is  to  lay  down  the  bases  of  some  practical  illustrations  in 
relation  to  the  influence  of  high  duties  upon  the  commerce  of 
the  United  States.  The  raising  of  prices  by  artificial  means, 
such  as  the  imposition  of  high  duties,  inevitably  diminishes  the 
consumption,  and  thus  disturbs  the  usual  current  of  imports  and 
exports.     New  habits   and  tastes   become   formed ;    those  at 


128  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

home,  as  well  as  those  abroad,  who  were  before  concerned  in 
the  trade,  are  driven  into  new  .pursuits,  and  the  reducing  of  the 
duties  may  not,  for  many  years,  if  ever,  restore  the  old  state  of 
things.  How  often  does  it  not  happen,  that  the  high  rate  of 
tolls  charged  on  a  turnpike-road,  has  driven  travellers  into  a 
new  route,  which  they  have  continued  to  adhere  to  even  after 
a  reduction  of  the  tolls  on  the  old  road?  In  the  case  above  re- 
ferred to,  relating  to  mineral  water,  a  most  injurious  effect  up- 
on the  trade  was  experienced.  The  lowering  of  the  price  to 
the  old  rates  did  not  bring  back  the  customers,  for  some  of  them 
dicovered,  by  the  interruption  of  their  usual  supply,  what  they 
did  not  before  know,  that  it  was  possible  to  do  without  such  a 
luxury. 

One  remarkable  fact  relative  to  the  turning  of  trade  from  its 
accustomed  channels  we  shall  here  mention.  Prior  to  the  last 
war,  it  was  the  custom,  almost  universally,  for  the  ships  which 
sailed  out  of  Philadelphia,  to  stop  at  New  Castle,  on  the  Dela- 
ware, to  get  their  supplies  of  live  stock,  and  many  of  their  sea 
stores,  for  the  voyage.  During  the  war  there  were  bodies  of 
troops  stationed  in  that  vicinity,  composed  of  volunteers  from 
Pennsylvania  and  Delaware,  and,  in  1814,  as  late  as  Decem- 
ber, to  the  number  of  three  or  four  thousand,  and  no  small  por- 
tion of  these  being  citizens  possessed  of  means  to  live  on  the 
best  the  country  could  afford,  such  as  eggs,  fowls,  ducks,  and 
other  poultry,  the  breeding  stock  of  the  neighbourhood  was  en- 
croached upon,  so  that  in  the  spring  of  1815,  when  commerce 
was  resumed,  the  first  vessels  which  stopped  at  New  Castle  for 
their  accustomed  stock,  could  not  get  supplied.  This  disap- 
pointment was  soon  made  public.  No  more  vessels  stopped  at 
New  Castle.  Poulterers  started  up  in  Philadelphia  to  meet  the 
new  demand,  and  New  Castle  forever  lost  the  trade.  This  was 
the  main  cause  of  the  dilapidated  condition  of  that  town,  which 
is  so  observable  to  those  who  remember  the  life  and  bustle 
which  twenty  years  ago  were  exhibited  there.  To  tamper 
with  trade  is  as  dangerous  an  operation  as  tampering  with  one's 
bodily  health,  and  none  but  quacks  ever  attempt  it  in  either 
case. 


ESSAY    No.   XL V. 


JUNE  IG,  1830. 


JW/es'  Register.  Communication  extracted  from,  as  to  the  re- 
lative advantages  of  domestic  and  foreign  labour.  Fallacy  of 
its  reasoning  exposed. 

MR.  NILES'  Register  being  looked  upon  by  the  restrictive 
party  as  a  sort  of  text-book,  in  regard  to  the  truths  of  political 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  129 

economy,  may  be  considered  in  this  country  as  the  standard  of 
American  System  orthodoxj^  and,  as  such,  has  an  extensive 
circulation,  and  a  powerful  influence.  We  cannot,  however, 
say,  that  we  have  ever  been  forcibly  struck  with  any  of  his 
reasonings,  and  whilst  we  give  him  credit  for  his  industry  and 
indefatigable  zeal  in  collecting  statistical  facts,  we  think  it 
would  not  require  much  effort  to  point  out  the  fallacy  of  many 
of  the  conclusions  which  he  draws  from  those  facts.  The  fol- 
lowing article,  some  months  ago,  particularly  attracted  our  at- 
tention : 

From  Niles'  Weekly  Register  of  Oct.  31. 

"  Domestic  and  Foreign  Labour. — The  following  statement 
is  from  a  practical  man.  It  is  highly  interesting ;  but  might 
have  been  much  further  extended,  as  to  the  labour  actually  em- 
ployed, through  the  establishment  spoken  of,  and  the  capital 
vested  in  lands,  buildings  &c.,  to  carry  it  on,  and  to  subsist  the 
persons  directly  engaged  in  this  business.  It  is  however  suffi- 
cient to  show  the  diflerence  between  domestic  and  foreign  la- 
bour, in  their  effects  on  national  prosperity — the  success  of 
which  must  depend  upon  the  profitable  and  full  employment  of 
the  people ;  seeing  that  there  is  no  other  way  than  by  labour 
to  obtain  national  wealth.  Not  less  than  foe  hundred  persons 
are  subsisted  by  the  estabUshment  spoken  ot". 

TO   THE   EDITORS   OF  THE   REGISTER. 

Philadelphia,  Oct.  26,  1829. 

"  In  your  Register  of  Saturday,  I  observed  an  extract  from  the 
"  Boston  Manufacturer,"  in  which,  with  reference  to  the  com- 
parative effects  of  commerce  and  manufactures  upon  the  do- 
mestic industry  of  a  nation,  it  is  stated,  that  200  sailors  employ- 
ed for  a  year  will  bring  us  all  the  bar  iron  that  we  purchase 
from  abroad,  while  it  would  employ  fifteen  thousand  persons  to 
make  it. 

"  In  further  illustration  of  the  same  subject,  I  send  you  the  an- 
nexecl  statement,  showing  the  amount  of  American  labour  set 
in  motion  and  advantageously  employed,  during  one  year,  in 
both  the  branches  of  manufactures  and  navigation,  by  one  small 
establishment,  engaged  in  making  iron.  To  import  the  same 
quantity,  (less  than  1000  tons,)  which  here  gives  employ  and 
comfortable  support  to  so  many  American  citizens,  would,  if 
brought  from  Great  Britain  in  American  vessels,  require  the  la- 
bour of  some  fifteen  or  twenty  seamen  during  thirty  or  forty 
days — but  if  transported  in  British  ships,  the  whole  would  be 
accomplished  without  giving  occupation  or  contributing  to  the 
support  of  ti  single  American  for  one  moment.  When  I  add, 
that  the  article,  when  made,  is  sold  at  a  price  less  than  it  could 
be  imported  for,  if  no  other  duty  existed  than  that  which,  were 
he  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  the  editor  of  the  "  Banner  of  the 
Constitution"  would  himself  be  compelled  to  recommend,  or 


130  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

preside  over  an  empty  exchequer,  it  would  hardly  be  contended, 
even  by  that  gentlemen,  that  the  consumer  is  taxed  by  the  sys- 
tem which  has  produced  this  result. 

"  I  answer  for  the  facts,  as  they  are  taken  from  the  books  of 
the  concern. 

"  1.  To  cut  the  wood  requires  an  average  of  about  50  men 
for  five  months,  at  that  period  of  the  year  during  which  there  is 
not  much  demand  for  labour  at  other  employ. 

"  2  To  convert  it  into  coal  and  deliver  it  at  the  works,  19 
men  and  16  horses,  during  9  months. 

"  3  To  raise  [dig]  and  deliver  the  ore  at  a  point  from 
whence  it  is  transported  by  water,  15  men  and  16  horses,  for 
9  months. 

"4.  To  transport  this  ore  and  other  heavy  raw  materials  re- 
quires 3000  tons  of  coasting  vessels.  Sloops  and  schooners  of 
50  to  70  tons  are  employed,  and  4  or  5  of  these,  navigated  by 
15  to  20  men,  do  the  work  in  about  8  months. 

"  5.  Thirty  to  thirty-five  men,  and  15  to  20  boys,  are  em- 
ployed for  10  months  in  converting  these  raw  materials  into 
the  manufactured  article — and  then  nearly  1000  tons  of  coast- 
ing craft  in  carrying  them  to  market. 

"  The  aggregate  of  this  labour  you  will  perceive  is  equal  to 
about  100  vien  for  one  year — to  import  the  same  in  an  Ame- 
rican vessel  would,  as  before  remarked,  require  less  than  one- 
fifth  of  the  men  for  one-twelfth  of  the  time. 

"  But  this  is  not  all.  The  labourers  and  their  families  on 
shore,  and  the  horses,  consumed,  whilst  so  engaged,  the  follow- 
ing articles — 

480  barrels  flour, 
120  barrels  mess  pork, 

100  barrels  salt  fish,  > 

6,000  bushels  corn, 
4,400  lbs.  cofllee, 
4,000  lbs.  sugar, 
1,500  gallons  molasses, 

3,500  dollars  in  value  of  dry  goods,  besides  a 
large  sum  in  miscellaneous  articles,  including  hay  for  the 
horses,  &c.  Of  the  dry  goods,  about  2-3ds.  were  of  domestic 
origin. 

"  The  establishment  being  situated  in  a  comparative  wilder- 
ness, the  articles  of  agricultual  produce  were  all  brought  from 
a  distance,  and  paid  a  further  tribute  to  American  industry  and 
capital  in  transportation.  C." 

The  article  above  quoted,  is,  if  we  understand  it  aright,  in- 
tended to  shew,  that  the  labour  of  ffteen  or  twenty  seamen  em- 
ployed for  thiiii/  or  forty  days,  is  capable  of  bringing  into  the 
country  as  much  iron  as  it  would  require  07ie  hundred  men  to 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  131 

produce  in  this  country  in  one  year,  and  that  it  is  for  the  inte- 
rest of  the  nation  that  the  domestic  production  should  be  resort- 
ed to  instead  of  importation.  Now,  if  we  state  the  proposition 
correctly,  it  follows,  that  the  writer  is  of  opinion,  that  the  more 
laborious  the  process  by  which  a  commodity  is  attainable,  the 
more  advantageous  it  is  to  the  public  ;  in  other  words,  that  it 
is  better  for  the  public  that  a  hundred  men  should  be  employed 
a  whole  year  in  producing  one  thousand  tons  of  iron,  at  home, 
than  that  fifteen  or  twenty  should  be  employed  thirty  or  forty 
days,  in  procuring  the  same  quantity  from  abroad.  This,  to  be 
sure,  is  a  very  extraordinary  doctrine,  and  is  in  fact  a  repeti- 
tion of  the  fallacy  once  refuted  by  us  in  the  Free  Trade  Advo- 
cate, under  the  illustration  of  a  snow-storm.  It  has  its  origin 
in  the  absurd  belief,  that  if  the  people  are  only  employed,  it 
matters  not  how  they  are  employed  ;  whereas  the  truth  is,  that, 
in  an  economical  point  of  view,  it  is  often  better  for  people  to 
remain  idle,  than  to  be  employed  in  labour  which  can  only  be 
remunerated  by  levying  contributions  on  the  public. 

There  is  a  story  told  of  our  fellow-citizen,  Stephen  Girard, 
of  Philadelphia,  who  understands  the  practical  truths  of  politi- 
cal economy  as  well  as  any  man  in  the  country,  as  is  shown  by 
the  skilful  management  of  his  great  commercial  capital  and  his 
bank.  A  man  applied  to  him  one  day  for  charitable  aid,  who 
had  every  appearance  of  being  able  to  labour.  Mr.  Girard 
asked  him  why  he  did  not  work?  He  replied,  that  he  could  not 
find  any  employment.  Mr.  Girard  suspecting  this  to  be  an  ex- 
cuse for  idleness,  and  wishing  to  try  the  applicant,  said,  he 
would  give  him  some  employment.  He  then  directed  him  to 
remove  a  large  pile  of  bricks,  which  was  near  at  hand,  to  ano- 
ther place.  This  the  man  accomplished,  and  then  applied  for 
his  reward.  "  The  business  is  but  half  done,"  said  Mr.  Girard, 
"  they  must  all  be  moved  back  again  into  the  old  place."  The 
absurdity  of  such  sort  of  American  industry  as  this,  was  too 
glaring  even  for  the  mendicant,  and  rather  than  look  and  feel 
like  a  fool,  he  sneaked  oif  without  his  pay.  Now,  had  one  of 
our  American  System  philosophers  been  present  at  this  occur- 
rence, he  would  without  doubt  have  denounced  the  beggar,  as 
he  would  any  individual  of  the  free  trade  party,  for  his  igno- 
rance, in  not  being  able  to  perceive  how  advantageous  it  was 
for  the  public  that  people  should  be  employed ;  and  he  would 
have  thought  that  it  was  decidedly  beneficial  to  the  communi- 
ty, that  this  man  should  have  been  employed  in  removing  these 
bricks,  even  though  a  few  should  be  broken  by  the  operation, 
rather  than  that  he  should  have  been  maintained  as  a  pauper 
without  working. 

But,  says  Mr.  "  C,"  the  1000  tons  of  iron  produced  at  the 
iron  works,  by  the  labour  of  these  one  hundred  men  for  one 
year,  is  sold  at  a  price  less  than  it  could  be  imported  for  under 


132 


ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 


a  moderate  revenue  duty.  If  this  is  the  case,  and  if  this  price 
remunerates  the  iron-master  for  the  capital  and  labour  employ- 
ed in  his  works,  as  we  presume  it  does,  it  presents  one  of  the 
strongest  arguments  against  the  high  duties  on  iron  that  could 
be  adduced.  For,  if  iron  can  be  profitably  made  in  this  coun- 
try under  duties  of  only  20  or  25  per  cent.,  why  should  $37 
per  ton,  equal  to  140  per  cent.be  imposed?  Certainly  there 
can  be  no  reason,  except  it  be  to  enable  the  owners  of  sterile 
or  exhausted  mines  to  force  into  operation  unproductive  ore 
banks,  which  had  better  be  suflered  to  lie  idle,  like  the  salt-pe- 
tre  caves  of  Kentucky,  that  can  only  be  made  to  produce  that 
article  at  two  or  three  times  the  price  of  the  foreign.  Again  :  If 
the  iron  which  these  100  men  produce  at  home  in  a  year,  is  no 
more  than  the  quantity  which  15  or  20  sailors  could  produce  by 
importation  in  thirty  or  forty  days,  would  it  not  be  the  best  poli- 
cy to  adopt  the  latter  course  for  procuring  iron  ?  For,  if  1000 
tons  of  iron  could  be  had  from  abroad,  with  one-sixtieth  of  the 
labour  requisite  to  produce  it  at  home,  would  it  not  be  belter 
to  save  the  other  fifty-nine  parts,  and  apply  it  to  some  other 
purpose  ?  To  make  this  plainer,  we  will  illustrate  it  by  a  refer- 
ence to  a  particular  case. 

We  will  suppose  that  the  iron  works  alluded  to  are  those  of 
Mr.  R,,  in  New  Jersey.  He  has  land  possessing  iron  mines,  or 
bog  ore,  and  iie  has  capital  enough  to  maintain  one  hundred 
men  for  a  year.  These  men  he  maintains  by  paying  them 
wages,  or,  in  other  words,  by  giving  them  the  quantity  of  flour, 
pork,  fish,  corn,  coffee,  sugar,  molasses,  and  dry  goods,  stated 
in  Mr.  C.'s  estimate.  In  return  for  this  expenditure  he  receives 
annually  1000  tons  of  iron.  Now,  if  Mr.  R.,  by  diverting  a  part 
of  his  capital  to  commerce,  could  get,  by  the  labour  of  20  of  his 
men  as  sailors,  in  one  month,  as  much  iron  as  he  now  gets  by 
the  labour  of  the  whole  hundred  for  one  year,  would  he  not,  if 
he  w-as  a  man  of  common  sense,  resort  to  the  least  expensive  and 
laborious  process  of  procuring  his  1000  tons  of  iron  ?  For,  it  will 
be  perceived,  that,  with  his  1000  tons  of  foreign  iron,  he  would 
have  as  abundant  means  to  maintain  the  whole  body  of  his  la- 
bourers, as  if  they  had  all  been  occupied  in  making  iron  ;  and 
if  he  had  nothing  more  profitable  for  them  to  do,  and  was  soli- 
citous that  no  American  industry  should  be  lost  to  the  country, 
he  might  set  them  to  work  in  carrying  bricks  from  one  place 
to  another.  But  we  know  Mr.  R.  too  well,  to  believe  that  he 
would  be  guilty  of  such  an  absurdity.  If  he  was  determined  to 
keep  a  hundred  men  in  his  employ,  he  would  set  some  of  them 
at  chopping  wood  for  the  Philadelphia  market,  others  in  hauling 
it,  some  in  cultivating  his  land,  or  in  building  houses  and  barns, 
or  perhaps  in  embellisliing  his  grounds  by  walks  or  hedges,  or  in 
making  a  canal  or  rail  road  from  his  woods  down  to  the  river , 
and  under  such  a  state  of  things,  would  it  not  be  better  for 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  133 

him  and  for  the  community,  and  for  the  very  labourers  them- 
selves, than  that  the  whole  hundred  should  be  occupied  in  do- 
ing nothing  more  than  producing  1000  tons  of  iron  I 

Under  this  view  of  the  subject,  we  cannot  conceive  it  possi- 
ble that  any  individual  could  prefer  to  see  a  hundred  men  em- 
ployed in  making  1000  tons  of  domestic  iron,  when  it  is  possi- 
ble for  the  same  hundred,  by  a  different  mode  of  applying  their 
labour,  to  produce  1000  tons  of  foreign  iron,  and  other  articles 
of  fifty-nine  times  the  value,  perhaps,  beside.  If  there  be  any 
such  man  in  the  community,  his  mind  must  be  obnubilated. 
Mr.  C.  himself  would  not  prefer  it ;  and  he,  certainly,  when  he 
wrote  the  above  communication,  was  not  aware  of  the  reduc- 
tio  ad  absurdum  of  which  it  was  susceptible.  The  fact  is,  the 
whole  reasoning  of  Mr.  C.  is  grounded  on  the  error  of  suppos- 
ing that  when  1000  tons  of  iron  are  brought  into  the  country, 
it  is  there  brought  by  the  labour  of  fifteen  or  twenty  sailors  for 
one  month.  This  is  an  entirely  false  assumption,  and  is  no  more 
true  than  it  would  be  to  assert  that  the  labour  of  the  carter,  who 
hauls  a  load  of  wood  to  our  door,  is  the  labour  which  produces 
the  wood.  The  part  which  the  sailors  perform  in  the  total 
operation  of  production  is  a  very  small  part  indeed.  It  is  pro- 
bably, in  every  ton  of  iron,  not  more  than  the  tenth  or  twentieth 
part  of  the  domestic  labour  employed  in  producing  it.  The  la- 
bour of  the  merchant  who  directs  the  voyage,  and  of  the  ship- 
carpenter,  rigger,  sail-maker,  boat-builder,  ship-«!triith,  painter, 
plumber,  stevidore,  and  porter,  and  of  a  dozen  others  employed 
in  building,  rigging,  and  loading  a  ship,  must  be  taken  into  the 
account.  And  even  these,  all  put  together,  form  but  a  small 
part  of  the  domestic  labour  employed  in  the  production  of  the 
foreign  iron.  To  whose  labour  then  is  due  the  foreign  iron,  if 
not  to  the  seamen  and  the  mechanics  employed  in  ship-building? 
We  answer,  to  the  hard-working  farmer — to  the  man  who  by 
his  plough  has  turned  up  the  ground,  who  has  planted  the  seed, 
harrowed  it  into  the  earth,  harvested  the  grain,  hauled  it  to  his 
barn,  threshed  the  sheaves,  and  carried  the  w  heat  to  the  mill  to 
be  ground  for  exportation — to  the  man  who,  by  diversifying 
his  agricultural  pursuits,  has  raised  beef  and  pork,  hams,  lard, 
butter,  whiskey,  cider,  staves  and  heading,  shingles,  boards, 
plank,  lumber,  spars,  tar,  pitch,  turpentine,  skins,  furs,  cattle, 
cheese,  hogs,  horses,  corn,  corn  meal,  rye  meal,  oats,  potatoes, 
apples,  onions,  cotton,  rice,  and  tobacco,  and  the  numerous 
other  agricultural  products  which  form  the  mass  of  our  annual 
exports.  Without  these  labours  of  the  fiirmer  and  planter 
no  foreign  iron  could  come  into  the  country,  unless  foreigners 
would  give  it  to  us  for  nothing,  which  is  not  at  all  likely ;  and 
therefore,  in  drawing  a  comparison  between  the  quantity  of 
labour  employed  in  producing  1000  tons  of  domestic  and  fo- 
reign iron,  respectively,  the  domestic  industry  of  the  farmer  and 
M 


134  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

planter  in  producing  the  equivalent  with  which  alone  the  latter 
could  be  obtained,  must  not  be  omitted,  it  being  the  most  essen- 
tial part. 

In  thus  pointing  out  the  error  of  Mr.  C.'s  reasoning,  we  must 
advert  to  an  error  in  one  of  his  facts.  He  says — "  But  this  is 
not  all.  The  labourers  and  their  families  on  shore,  and  the 
horses,  consumed  while  so  engaged,  the  following  articles,"  «Sz:c. 
Now  this  expression  seems  to  imply  that  the  provisions  and 
clothing  consumed  by  the  one  hundred  labourers,  were  in  addi- 
tion to  their  wages.  This,  however,  is  not  the  case.  No  la- 
bourer who  receives  a  dollar  a  day,  can  consume  his  wages 
and  a  dollar's  worth  of  flour,  pork,  and  salt-fish  besides.  The 
articles  enumerated  were  the  real  capital  consumed  by  the  la- 
bourers, and  constituted  their  wages;  for,  whether  they  received 
coin,  or  bank  notes,  or  the  orders  of  their  employer  upon  his 
own  store,  the  coin,  or  notes,  or  orders,  must  have  been  given 
in  exchange  for  the  provisions  and  clothing,  which  alone 
could  be  consumed. 

As  to  the  last  paragraph  of  Mr.  C.'s  communication,  it  is 
but  a  confirmation  of  the  theory  upon  which  he  has  built  this 
comparative  estimate  of  foreign  and  domestic  labour.  He  sup- 
poses that  it  is  of  so  much  importance  that  American  industry 
should  be  employed,  that  it  is  of  positive  advantage  that  the  ag- 
ricultural produce  consumed  at  Mr.  R.'s  iron  works  should  be 
brought  from  a  distance.  Upon  this  principle,  it  would  also  be 
of  advantage  that  the  smelting  house  should  be  at  a  distance 
from  the  ore  banks,  inasmuch  as  the  conveyance  of  the  ore  to 
the  furnace  would  give  employment  to  additional  American  in- 
dustry ;  and  we  see  no  reason,  if  the  doctrine  be  a  sound  one, 
why  it  is  not  the  better  the  further  it  is  pushed.  We  see  no 
reason  why  Mr.  R.  would  not  promote  his  best  interests,  and 
those  of  the  public,  by  transferring  his  works  to  Egg  Harbour, 
which  we  presume  is  not  fifty  miles  from  his  ore  banks,  for,  in 
that  case,  it  would  employ  a  great  many  more  hands,  and 
horses,  and  oxen,  than  it  now  does,  to  produce  his  1000  tons 
of  iron. 

As  to  the  question,  whether  the  domestic  or  the  foreign  mode 
of  procuring  a  thousand  tons  of  iron,  gives  employment  to  the 
most  American  industry,  we  shall  leave  it  to  others  to  answer. 
This,  however,  we  will  say,  that  if  restrictive  laws  did  not  in- 
terfere, the  common  sense  of  the  public  would  lead  them  to  get 
their  iron  by  the  employment  of  the  fewest  possible  number  of 
people,  and  never  by  the  employment  of  the  greatest  number; 
so  that  if  the  commercial  process  required  a  fewer  number  of 
hands  than  the  manufacturing  process,  it  would  be  unquestion- 
ably resorted  to,  and  vice  versa. 


OP   FREE    TRADE.  135 


ESSAY    No.    XLVI. 

JUNE  23,  1830. 

RemarJiS  on  the.  passage  of  the  bills  reducing  the  duties  on  tea, 
coffee,  cocoa,  salt  and  molasses.  The  protective  system  can 
only  be  broken  up  by  attacking  it  in  detail.  The  inquisito- 
rial features  of  Mr.  Mallory^s  bill  abandoned. 

IT  appears  that  some  of  our  Southern  friends  are  not  pleased 
at  the  passage  of  the  bills  reducing  the  duties  on  tea,  coffee, 
cocoa,  salt,  and  molasses ;  being  apprehensive  that  the  effect  of 
it  will  be  to  render  more  difficult  the  repeal  of  the  other  taxes 
which  bear  more  heavily  upon  the  South.  They  are  of  opi- 
nion that  the  Southern  delegation  in  Congress,  instead  of  advo- 
cating, as  they  did  we  believe,  unanimously,  these  partial  mea- 
sures favouring  principally  the  ship-owning  and  lumber  and 
grain-growing  states,  should  have  opposed  any  reduction,  ex- 
cept a  general  one  which  would  have  touched  the  most  odious 
and  oppressive  features  of  the  American  System.  In  this  view 
of  the  subject,  we  think  our  friends  are  in  error,  and  we  will 
state  our  reasons  for  this  belief 

At  the  commencement  of  the  late  session  of  Congress,  we 
believe  it  was  the  general  sentiment  of  the  anti-tariff  party,  that 
the  proper  way  to  attack  the  system  was,  to  aim  a  blow  at  the 
whole,  and  not  to  listen  to  any  plans  for  a  partial  assault.  It 
was  thought  that  certain  sections  of  the  country  had  become  so 
heartily  sick  of  particular  burthens  imposed  upon  them  by  the 
log-rolling  system,  that  they  would  gladly  unite  with  the  South- 
ern representatives  in  casting  of^'  the  yoke,  even  at  the  hazard 
of  overthrowing  the  other  parts  of  the  system.  Under  this  im- 
pression, we  presume  it  was,  that,  on  the  5th  of  February  a  bill 
was  introduced  into  the  House  of  Representatives  by  Mr.  Mc- 
Duffie,  chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means,  for  a 
general  reduction  of  duties.  The  votes  however  which  took  place 
on  that  bill,  on  the  8th  of  the  same  month,  most  clearly  show- 
ed, that  the  combination  was  too  strongly  riveted  together  by 
the  common  ties  of  interest,  to  be  vulnerable,  if  the  whole  were 
attacked  at  once.  It  was  decided,  by  a  vote  of  107  to  79,  not 
merely  that  the  bill  should  not  pass,  but  that  it  should  not  even 
be  discussed,  and  it  was  accordingly  laid  upon  the  table,  or,  in 
other  words,  laid  upon  the  shelf 

Nothing  then  remained  for  the  minority,  but  to  resort  to  the 
expedient  of  taking  the  bundle  of  rods  which  had  inflicted  so 
many  severe  stripes  upon  the  nation,  one  by  one,  in  order  to  try 
what  could  be  effected  by  that  process.  The  monstrous  and 
untenable  doctrine  had  been  set  up  by  the  Committee  of  Manu- 


136  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

facturcs,  and  by  certain  distiniTiiishcd  members  of  both  houses 
of  Congress,  that  the  American  System,  admitted  by  these  lat- 
ter to  be  vicious  and  injurious  in  principle,  had  noxo  become  the 
settled  ■policy  of  the  country.  To  put  down  this  hideous  feature 
of  legislation,  which,  if  admitted  as  valid,  would  perpetuate  the 
reign  of  darkness,  of  vandalism,  and  of  misery,  in  this  country, 
for  which  there  arc  in  store,  we  trust,  higher  destinies  than  any 
that  can  be  conferred  by  such  politicians  as  those  to  whom  we 
have  alluded,  was  of  the  greatest  importance.  It  was  indeed 
of  infinite  moment  that  the  people,  that  the  world,  with  which 
we  have  commercial  intercourse,  should  be  made  to  know,  that, 
although- some  individuals,  who  had  been  hostile  to  the  tariff  po- 
licy, but  had  found  it  convenient  no  longer  to  oppose  it,  had 
now  justified  the  latter  course  by  professing  to  believe  that  a 
system  of  six  years  standing  had  acquired  a  right  to  perpetuity 
by  prescription,  yet  that  the  body  of  the  nation  was  not  so  im- 
mersed in  ignorance,  or  a  blind  devotion  to  political  leaders,  as 
to  persevere  longer  in  a  policy  than  it  was  found  to  answer  the 
ends  of  its  institution.  To  prove,  therefore,  that  the  American 
System  was  not  the  settled  policy  of  the  country,  called  for  the 
united  efforts  of  the  true  frends  of  the  people,  and  by  their  act- 
ing in  concert,  that  desirable  object  was  accomplished.  No 
man,  henceforth,  who  values  his  reputation  or  his  sincerity  as 
a  statesmen,  will  be  found  to  profess  a  belief,  that  a  policy  can 
be  looked  upon  as  settled,  which  has  met  with  so  violent  a  shock 
as  that  which  has  been  experienced  by  the  high  duty  policy 
within  the  last  two  months. 

It  is  true,  that,  in  commencing  the  work  of  demolition,  the 
most  feeble  points  were  first  assailed.  Tea,  coffee,  and  cocoa, 
articles  not  produced  in  this  country,  presented  themselves  as 
prominent  objects  through  which  the  public  pulse  might  be  felt, 
and  through  which  an  opportunity  might  be  afforded  to  the 
editors  throughout  the  country,  who  did  not  feel  at  liberty  di- 
rectly to  attack  the  tarif!",  to  do  it  indirectly,  by  setting  forth 
the  blessings  of  low  prices.  The  anticipated  result  was  fully 
accomplished,  and  it  may  be  considei'ed,  that  the  re-action  of 
public  opinion  upon  Congress  in  relation  to  these  articles,  pre- 
pared the  tariff  party  for  the  further  steps  of  reducing  the  duty 
on  salt  and  molasses,  and  allowing  a  drawback  upon  domestic 
spirits  distilled  from  foreign  molasses.  But,  in  regard  to  the 
article  of  tea,  a  still  further  point  was  gained.  The  China  trade 
has  always  been  regarded  by  the  tariff  party  as  one  of  the 
most  injurious  to  the  country  that  has  been  carried  on,  on  ac- 
count of  its  draining  us  of  our  specie ;  and  the  facilities  now 
afforded  for  the  further  exportation  of  coin  to  that  country,  by 
the  votes  of  the  very  tariff  party  themselves,  may  be  looked  up- 
on as  abandoning  one  of  their  strong  holds.  We  are  not  una- 
ware, that  a  part  of  the  tea  brought  from  China,  is  paid  for  with 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  137 

skins,  furs,  ginseng,  and  a  few  other  articles  of  domestic  produce, 
or  with  British  goods  shipped  in  England,  or  with  seal  skins  and 
other  products  obtained  in  the  South  seas;  but  these  bear  but 
a  small  proportion  to  the  amount  purchased  with  Spanish  dol- 
lars, and  therefore  a  direct  and  almost  unanimous  vote  to  en- 
courage the  exportation  r»f  dollars  from  this  country,  evinces  a 
clearing  off  of  a  part  of  the  mental  obnubilation  which  has  so 
long  obscured  the  vision  of  our  political  arithmeticians. 

That  the  reduction  of  the  salt  duty  is  a  real  breach  in  the 
walls  of  the  American  System,  cannot  be  doubted.  Although 
it  was  originally  imposed  as  a  mere  revenue  duty,  yet  it  would 
have  been  reduced  soon  after  the  war,  as  originally  contem- 
plated, had  its  continuance  not  been  urged,  upon  the  same 
ground  precisely  as  the  continuance  of  the  cotton  and  woollen 
duties,  viz.,  the  injury  of  those  who  had  embarked  their  capitals 
in  the  domestic  manufacture,  at  a  period  when  the  duties  were 
not  designed  for  protection.  The  molasses  duty,  perhaps,  can- 
not be  altogether  considered  as  a  bo7ia  fide  part  of  the  tariff 
policy,  inasmuch  as  it  was  ingrafted  on  the  main  stock  by  the 
enemies  of  the  system.  Considered,  however,  as  a  measure 
highly  favourable  to  Louisiana,  one  of  the  most  thorough-going 
tariff  states  in  the  Union,  it  was  clearly  one  of  the  elements 
which  made  the  combination  stronger,  and,  taken  in  connexion 
with  the  abolition  of  the  drawback  on  New  England  rum  which 
accompanied  its  adoption,  the  object  of  which  was  protection 
to  the  whiskey  distillers  of  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  &c.,  it  cannot 
but  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  rods  which  helped  to  make  the 
bundle  more  difficult  to  be  broken.  Upon  the  whole,  when  we 
add  the  entire  abandonment  of  Mr.  Mallary's  bill,  intended  to 
establish  the  holy  inquisition  in  our  custom-houses,  its  substitu- 
tion by  a  new  measure  which  so  entirely  altered  the  character 
of  the  original-,  that  of  it,  it  could  scarcely  be  said,  stat  nominis 
umbra,  abundant  evidence  is  afforded  of  a  great  triumph,  on  the 
part  of  the  friends  of  free  trade,  over  an  opposition  which  six 
months  ago  appeared  to  be  insurmountable. 

Considering,  as  we  do,  the  course  pursued  by  the  anti-tariff 
party  in  Congress,  as  a  display  of  good  generalship,  we  cannot 
easily  bring  ourselves  to  believe,  that  any  more  efficient  course 
could  have  been  adopted,  and  we  look  forward  with  great  con- 
fidence to  the  developments  of  the  next  six  months,  as  corrobo- 
ratory of  our  views.  The  reduction  of  the  duty  on  salt  and 
molasses,  articles  so  necessary  to  the  poor  man,  will  give  an 
opportunity  to  the  editors  who  are  at  heart  on  our  side,  but 
have  too  many  American  System  subscribers  to  risk  an  open 
assault,  to  lead  public  opinion  into  a  correct  mode  of  thinking 
upon  the  other  branches  of  the  system.  Prom  salt  and  mo- 
lasses, the  transition  will  not  be  great  to  sugar  and  clothing,  to 
iron,  cotton  bagging,  and  wool.  It  is  a  great  thing,  in  carry- 
M* 


138  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

ing  on  war  against  an  enemy,  who  has  possessed  himself  of 
one's  country,  to  compel  him  to  commence  a  retreat.  Every 
new  position  that  is  taken  up,  becomes  a  fresh  point  d'appui, 
and  the  advantages  can  hardly  be  over-rated,  which  the  inva- 
ded enjoys,  when  he  has  once  seen  the  invader  turn  his  back. 
This  favourable  posture  of  the  battle  now  belongs  to  the  friends 
of  free  trade ;  and  if  the  advantages  be  followed  up  as  they 
ought  to  be,  without  the  slightest  relaxation,  we  may  expect,  be- 
fore long,  to  see  the  enemy  driven  back  to  his  own  borders,  or 
throwing  himself  upon  the  mercy  of  the  victors. 


ESSAY    No.    XL  VI  I. 

JULY  14.  1830. 


Internal  Improvements.  Question  of  benefits  resulting  from, 
fairly  tested.  Influence  of  the  impost  and  funding  system, 
as  promoting  extravagance  in  government.  Sinking  of  ca- 
pital. Erroneous  opinions  generally  entertained  in  respect 
to  it. 

THE  question  of  Internal  Improvement,  as  it  is  called,  is  one, 
the  real  character  of  which  is  less  understood  in  the  middle  and 
Northern  states,  than  any  other  which  is  intimately  connected 
with  the  prosperity  of  the  country ;  and  as  we  consider  it  of 
great  importance  that  the  advocates  of  free  trade  should  be- 
come acquainted  with  its  true  nature,  we  shall  offer  a  few  re- 
marks on  the  subject,  for  their  especial  benefit. 

It  is  a  common  notion,  with  the  great  body  of  the  people,  that 
the  construction  of  roads  and  canals  can  never  be  otherwise 
than  beneficial  to  the  country.  This  belief  arises  from  the  ge- 
neral prevalence  of  two  great  fallacies,  which  even  some  sensi- 
ble men  have  embraced  without  due  consideration.  The  frst 
is,  the  supposition  that  the  public  good  is  promoted  by  simply 
giving  employment  to  people;  and  the  second  is,  the  idea  that, 
as  a  road  or  canal  cheapens  the  expense  of  transportation,  it 
must  needs  be  of  general  advantage.  We  shall  give  to  each 
of  these  opinions  a  brief  examination,  and  if  we  do  not  complete- 
ly expose  their  unsoundness,  we  shall  esteem  it  as  a  great  favour, 
if  any  one  who  reads  this  paper  will  point  out  the  error  of  our 
reasoning. 

That  industry  is  better  in  a  moral  point  of  view  than  idle- 
ness, we  cannot  dispute,  and  if  we  were  writing  a  treatise 
for  the  use  of  a  house  of  correction,  we  should  say  that  it 
would  be  better  to  employ  lazy  vagrants  in  carrying  bricks 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  139 

from  one  pile  to  another,  and  then  in  carrying  them  back 
again,  than  to  indulge  them  in  their  lazy  habits.  But  examin- 
ing the  subject  under  an  economical  point  of  view,  the  (juestion 
is  entirely  altered,  and  assumes  this  form — Is  it  beneficial  to 
the  public  that  there  should  be  employed,  at  the  expense  of 
others,  people,  the  value  of  whose  labour,  after  the  work  is  com- 
pleted, is  not  equal  to  the  capital  expended  ?  This  is  a  very 
simple  proposition,  and  easy  of  solution.  Let,  for  example,  any 
farmer  ask  himself  whether  it  would  be  advantageous  for  him 
to  employ  a  labourer  to  work  on  his  farm  for  a  year,  at  an 
expense  in  wages  of  one  hundred  dollars  cash,  if  the  produce 
of  his  labour  was  worth  only  ninety  dollars  cash  ?  Let  him  ask 
himself,  whether  it  would  be  advantageous  for  him  to  employ 
a  man  to  dig  a  ditch  around  his  fields,  to  drain  off  the  water,  at 
an  expense  of  a  hundred  dollars,  if  the  increased  productiveness 
of  his  fields,  by  the  draining,  would  not  be  annually  equal  to 
the  annual  income  which  he  could  have  derived  from  the  em- 
ployment of  his  hundred  dollars  in  some  other  way  ?  Let  him  ask 
himself,  whether  it  would  be  advantageous  for  him  to  employ 
people  to  make  a  road  for  him  to  go  to  market  upon,  at  an  ex- 
pense of  a  thousand  dollars,  if  the  saving  which  would  accrue 
to  him  in  time,  in  the  wear  and  tear  of  wagons,  cattle  and 
horse-shoes,  should  not  be  annually  equal  to  the  annual  revenue 
that  he  could  have  derived  from  the  employment  of  his  thou- 
sand dollars  in  some  other  enterprise'?  If  any  one,  on  putting 
these  questions  to  himself,  should  receive  an  affirmative  an- 
swer, we  should  like  to  hear  the  arguments  by  which  it  would 
be  supported.  But  we  are  persuaded  that  none  can  be  given, 
unless  it  be  this :  The  ditch,  or  the  road,  although  it  may  not 
this  year  produce  the  saving  expected,  yet  it  will  do  so  some 
years  hence.  This,  to  be  sure,  has  some  speciousness  about  it, 
but  it  must  vanish  as  an  argument,  when  brought  to  the  test  of 
analysis,  as  we  shall  show. 

In  all  estimates  of  the  expenditm'e  of  capital,  the  calculation, 
to  be  sound,  must  be  made  in  reference  to  the  time  of  the  ex- 
penditure; and  if  the  income  to  be  derived  from  it,  does  not 
commence  until  a  future  day,  there  must  be  added  to  the  prin- 
cipal, a  sum  equal  to  what  would  have  been  gained  in  the  inte- 
rim, by  its  employment  in  some  other  way.  Thus,  in  the  case 
of  the  ditch,  if  its  usefulness  should  not  show  itself  for  five 
years,  and  if,  after  that  period,  it  should  not  annually  produce 
the  income  of  one  hundred  dollars,  and  of  such  additional  sum 
as  could  have  been  made  out  of  the  one  hundred  dollars  in  five 
years,  employed  in  some  other  wtiy,  it  would  have  been  a  losing 
concern ;  at  no  future  period  would  the  farmer  be  in  possession 
of  as  much  revenue,  as  if  he  had  let  the  ditch  alone.  The  case 
is  the  same  with  the  road.  An  interest  account  must  be  kept 
with  it,  and  the  farmer  could  not  fail  to  discover  that,  as  mo- 


140  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

ney  doubles  itself  at  compound  interest  in  less  than  twelve  years, 
his  road,  at  the  expiration  of  that  term,  must  yield  him  the  in- 
come of  two  thousand  doHars,  or  he  will  be  worse  oft'  than  if 
he  had  let  the  road  alone.  If  the  saving  in  the  mean  time 
should  have  been  more  than  sufficient  to  keep  the  road  in  re- 
pair, this  surplus,  it  is  true,  will  be  a  sct-oflTon  the  credit  side  of 
the  account,  and  will  of  course  diminish  the  accumulating  ratio 
of  the  compound  interest.  iBut,  for  the  better  elucidation  of 
this  subject,  we  will  state  an  account  current : 


Dr.  The  Road. 

1818. 
Jan.  1.  Amount  of  cost,  $1000 

1830. 
Jan.  1.  Compound  inter- 
est, at  6  per  cent, 
per  annum,  1000 

..     Expenses  of    re- 
pairs in  12  years,  100 


$2,100 


Contra.  Cr. 

1830. 
Jan.  1.  By  amount  of  sa- 
ving in  transportation 
in  12  years,  including 
compound  interest, 
calculated  on  the  dif- 
ferent sums  saved,  up 
to  this  date  -  -  $  600 
Balance  -     -       1,500 


$2,100 


From  this  statement  it  would  appear,  that  the  cost  of  the 
road,  to  the  farmer,  would  be  $1,500,  and  that,  consequent- 
ly, unless  the  saving  he  could  subsequently  derive  from  it, 
would  be  equal  to  what  he  could  derive  from  the  employment 
of  his  $1,500  in  some  other  investment,  he  would  be  a  loser 
from  the  operation. 

What  has  been  here  said  in  relation  to  an  individual  farmer, 
is  equally  true  of  a  community  of  farmers,  or  of  any  other 
body  of  people.  It  is  true  of  a  township,  of  a  county,  of  a 
state,  and  of  a  nation ;  and  as  the  wife  and  children  of  an  in- 
dividual, have  a  positive  interest  in  the  judicious  employment 
of  his  capital,  so  have  all  the  members  of  a  great  national  fa- 
mily a  positive  interest  in  the  judicious  employment  of  the  na- 
tional capital.  The  interest,  to  be  sure,  is  not  so  perceptible  to 
the  great  mass  of  the  people,  but  this  arises  from  two  vicious 
features  in  the  policy  of  nations,  viz :  the  impost  system,  and  the 
fundivg  system;  by  the  former  of  which,  the  people  are  taxed 
without  knowing  it,  and,  by  the  latter,  are  enabled  to  saddle 
posterity  with  the  expenses  resulting  from  their  own  extrava- 
gance and  folly.  If  direct  taxation  were  resorted  to,  instead 
of  indirect  taxation,  and  if  every  generation  would  adopt 
the  just  maxim,  let  us  pay  as  we  go,  there  would  be  nearly  the 
same  prudence  in  the  expenditure  of  capital  exercised  by  go- 
vernm.cnts  as  by  individuals.  But  it  is  very  clear  that  a  mere 
alteration  of  the  mode  of  raising  the  funds,  does  not  affect  the 
question  of  judicious  or  injudicious  expenditure ;  and  the  loss 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  141 

to  the  public,  arising  from  an  expenditure  of  capital  in  the  con- 
struction of  a  road  or  canal,  where  it  is  not  wanted,  or  before 
it  is  wanted,  is  not  less  a  loss  because  the  people  are  not  sensi- 
ble of  it. 

We  have,  upon  several  occasions,  undertaken  to  point  out  the 
fallacy  which  so  widely  prevails,  that,  where  labourers  are  em- 
ployed on  a  public  work,  there  is  no  sinking  of  capital,  inasmuch 
as  the  money  which  they  receive  as  wages,  is  not  consumed, 
but  circulated  amongst  the  community.  We  recollect  to  have 
heard  it  asserted  many  years  ago,  that  the  Erie  canal  would 
be  of  great  benefit  to  the  state  of  New  York,  on  account  of  the 
employment  it  would  give  to  so  many  thousand  people,  even 
though  it  should  never  be  completed.  Now,  to  understand  this 
subject,  let  us  go  back  to  our  farmer,  and  consult  him  about 
his  ditch  and  road.  He  will  tell  us,  that  the  labourers  employ- 
ed by  him,  did  not,  it  is  true,  eat  or  drink  the  Spanish  dollars 
and  bank  notes  which  he  paid  them  as  wages,  but  that  they 
took  them  to  the  store,  and  laid  them  out  in  provisions,  groce- 
ries, liquors,  tobacco,  clothing,  and  other  articles,  which  they 
did  actually  eat,  drink,  and  wear,  and  otherwise  consume. 
How  will  the  case  then  stand  ?  Why,  that  during  the  progress 
of  the  work  a  capital  has  been  consumed  equal  to  the  value 
of  the  money  paid  as  wages,  which  capital  was  not  reproduced 
by  the  ditchers  and  road  makers.  Had  these  workmen  been 
employed  in  the  labours  of  the  farm,  in  ploughing,  harrowing, 
sowing,  reaping,  threshing,  and  the  various  other  agricultural 
occupations,  the  case  would  have  been  different.  There  would 
have  been  reproduced  by  their  labour,  wheat  and  other  grain, 
equal  to  the  value  of  the  things  which  they  consumed  whilst 
employed  ;  and  yet  it  will  be  perceived  that,  in  this  case,  they 
w^ould  no  more  have  eaten  and  drunk  the  money  in  which  their 
wages  were  paid,  than  in  the  other  case.  A  proper  view  of 
the  difference  between  capital  and  money,  is  all  important  in 
political  economy.  No  sort  of  labour  can  be  carried  on  with- 
out a  consumption  of  capital.  A  wind  mill  consumes  capital,  by 
the  wear  and  tear  of  the  machinery.  A  water  mill  consumes 
capital  by  wear  and  tear,  and  the  destruction  of  dams  and 
races.  A  steam  mill  consumes  capital  by  wear  and  tear,  and 
by  its  constant  demand  for  fuel.  The  farmer,  the  merchant, 
the  manufacturer,  the  mechanic,  the  tradesman,  and  all  others, 
who  by  their  employments  add  to  the  mass  of  the  f/uiteria/ pro- 
duct?, of  the  country,  consume  capital  whilst  they  are  occupi- 
ed, inasmuch  as  they  eat,  drink,  clothe,  lodge,  and  warm  them- 
selves. Even  the  generators  of  immaterial  products,  such  as 
lawyers,  members  of  Congress,  musicians,  and  play  actors,  who 
produce  nothing  but  pleadings,  speeches,  concerts,  and  the  en- 
joyment of  crying  or  laughing  at  a  tragedy  or  f^irce,  consume 
capital  whilst  they  are  occupied.   All  tame  animals  do  the  same 


142  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

thing;  and  whenever  the  time  shall  arrive  when  the  consump- 
tion of"  capital  ceases  with  a  man,  he  ceases  to  be  needed  any 
longer  on  this  planet. 

Now,  money,  it  will  be  observed,  is  never  consumed  ;  and  it 
is  consequently  never  referred  to  when  consumption  of  capital 
is  spoken  of.  It  is  the  mere  instrument  by  which  the  capital, 
which  is  daily  consumed  by  the  individuals  of  the  nation,  is  dis- 
tributed to  the  various  consumers.  It  performs  the  same  func- 
tion that  wagons  and  carts  perform ;  and  as  well  might  it  be 
said,  on  a  market  day  in  Philadelphia,  that  there  was  no  consump- 
tion of  capital,  consisting  of  meat,  poultry,  fruit,  and  vegetables, 
because  the  thousands  of  wagons  and  carts  that  line  Second 
street,  from  Vine  to  South  street^  are  not  also  eaten  or  drunk 
up.  How  such  an  error  could  have  obtained  such  a  deep  root, 
we  are  at  a  loss  to  imagine.  But  w^e  are  not  at  a  loss  to  un- 
derstand why  the  error  is  perpetuated.  It  is  because  the  edi- 
tors of  papers  at  the  North  ])refer  the  darkness  of  the  American 
System,  to  the  light  of  truth,  and,  on  that  account,  close  their 
columns  to  the  only  sort  of  discussions  w  hich  are  calculated  to 
avert  calamities  from  this  nation,  which  they  will  deplore  too 
late. 


ESSAY    No.    XL VIII. 

JULY  28,  1830. 


Doctrine  of  ike  balance  of  trade.     Errors  of  the  common  opi- 
nion in  relation  to  it,  refuted.     True  doctrine  of  exchange. 

THE  doctrine  of  the  balance  of  trade  has  ever  been  a  source 
of  confusion  to  many  who  have  passed  in  the  world  for  states- 
men, and  although  one  of  the  simplest  matters  to  be  understood 
that  is  to  be  found  in  the  whole  science  of  political  economy, 
it  has  been  at  the  bottom  of  almost  all  the  bad  legislation  upon 
commerce  which  has  taken  place  in  Europe  and  this  country. 
The  great  difficulty  which  the  friends  of  free  trade  have  at  all 
times  had  to  correct  the  common  error  on  this  point,  has  not 
arisen  from  any  difficulty  in  explaining  the  subject,  but  from  an 
obstinate  refusal,  on  the  part  of  those  who  have  embraced  the 
theory  which  supposes  that  gold  and  silver  are  of  more  impor- 
tance to  a  country  than  an  equal  value  of  other  commodities, 
to  listen  to  their  arguments.  That  this  is  the  case,  we  shall 
undertake  to  demonstrate,  and  we  think  we  can  present  the  sub- 
ject in  so  plain  and  clear  a  light,  that  any  one  may  understand 
it  who  will  take  the  trouble  of  reading  these  remarks. 

The  doctrine  we  are  to  combat,  asserts  that  the  balance  of 
trade  has  been  against  this  country  for  many  years  past ;  that 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  143 

we  have  imported  more  than  we  have  exported  ;  and  that  on 
this  account  the  country  has  been  drained  of  its  specie  ;  and 
that  the  inevitable  tendency  of  a  long  perseverance  in  such  a 
commerce  as  we  have  been  thus  carrying  on,  is  to  impoverish 
the  country.  The  proof  which  is  brought  forward  in  support 
of  these  positions,  is,  ^rst  the  custom-house  returns  of  imports 
and  exports,  by  which  it  appears  that,  during  the  last  nine  years, 
for  example,  the  nation  has  imported,  upon  an  average,  about 
four  millions  of  dollars  per  annum  more  than  she  has  export- 
ed;* and  secondly,  the  current  rate  of  exchange  upon  London, 
which,  within  the  same  period,  has  ranged,  nominally,  from  5 
to  13  per  cent,  above  par. 

Our  present  object  is  to  show,  that  the  facts  here  brought  for- 
ward to  prove  an  unfavourable  balance  of  trade,  do  not  sustain 
the  proposition  ;  and  first,  let  us  examine  the  evidence  afforded 
by  the  custom-house  returns. 

The  value  of  the  articles  exported,  as  given  therein,  is  their 
value  in  this  country  at  the  time  of  shipment,  and  before  the 
expenses  of  freight,  insurance,  commission,  &c.,  have  been  in- 
curred. The  value  of  the  articles  imported,  is  their  estimated 
value  after  they  have  reached  this  country,  and  it  is  therefore 
clear,  that,  so  far  from  the  excess  of  imports  over  exports  being 
a  proof  of  an  unfavourable  balance  of  trade,  it  is  usually  a  proof 
of  a  favourable  one.  Let  us  illustrate  this  by  a  case.  A  iner- 
chant  at  Baltimore  loads  a  vessel  for  Brazil  with  1000  bar- 
rels of  flour,  which  cost  $5  a  barrel,  that  is,  $5000.  This  car- 
go, in  order  to  give  him  a  profit,  must  sell  abroad  for  as  much 
more  than  the  first  cost,  as  the  freight  and  other  expenses  in- 
curred in  the  shipment.  Supposing  these  to  amount  to  three 
dollars  a  barrel,  he  must  obtain  at  least  $8000  for  his  cargo, 
and  then  supposing  the  nett  proceeds  of  the  sales  to  be  invested 
in  sugar  or  cofl^ee  or  hides,  upon  which  also  the  expense  of  com- 
missions, porterage,  freight,  and  insurance  must  be  incurred, 
equal,  we  will  suppose,  to  one  dollar  more  per  barrel,  he  must 
obtain  for  those  articles  at  least  $9000,  in  order  to  replace  his 
original  capital,  and  to  repa}'  the  freight  of  his  vessel,  insurance, 
and  other  charges.  Here  then  we  see  an  export,  according  to 
the  custom-house  estimate  of  $5000,  and  an  import,  according 
to  the  same  estimate  of  $9000,  and  yet  there  is  no  balance  of 
trade  against  the  country.  The  inward  cargo  is  procured  by 
the  sale  of  the  outward  cargo,  and  just  in  proportion  as  the 

*The  following  are  the  amounts  of  imports  and  exports  to  and  from  all  parts  of  the 
world,  as  furnished  by  the  Reports  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  Prior  to  1821 
the  value  of  imports  was  not  given. 


Imports. 

Exports. 

Imports. 

Exports. 

1821, 

62,583,724 

64,974,382 

1826. 

84,974,477 

77.695.322 

1822, 

83,241.541 

72,160,281 

1827, 

79,484.068 

82.324,827 

1823, 

77,579,267 

74,699.030 

1828. 

88,509,824 

72,264,686 

1824, 

80,549,007 

75.9H6,6,i7 

1829, 

74,492,527 

72,358,671 

1826, 

96,340,075 

99.535,388 

144  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

voyage  is  profitable,  must  the  value  of  the  return  cargo  be 
greater  than  that  ol"  the  outward  cargo.  It  will  thus  be  mani- 
fest, that,  as  far  as  the  custom-house  returns  throw  any  light 
upon  the  subject,  they  prove,  that  an  excess  of  imports  over 
exports  is  evidence  of  a  favourable  balance  of  trade,  and  if 
there  be  any  truth  in  figures,  this  point  is  conclusively  demon- 
strated. 

In  reference  to  the  other  position,  relied  upon  as  evidence 
that  the  balance  of  trade  is  against  the  country,  namely,  that 
the  exchange  upon  England  has,  for  many  years,  been  greatly 
above  par,  a  little  reflection  will  show  that  it  is  just  as  ground- 
less as  the  other.  When  we  say  that  a  bill  on  London  is  10 
per  cent,  above  par,  we  say  so  in  conformity  to  an  old  custom, 
which  was  established  at  a  time  when  a  dollar  was  equivalent 
to  4s.  6d.  of  British  currency,  and  when,  consequently,  a  pound 
sterling  was  the  equivalent  of  $4.44  of  American  currency.  If, 
however,  these  proj)ortions  have  undergone  a  change  of  late 
years — if  the  silver  dollar  has  lost  part  of  its  former  value  as 
exchangeable  for  gold,  which  is  the  currency  in  which  debts 
are  contracted  by  our  merchants  who  trade  to  Great  Britain,  it 
is  very  clear  that  the  same  starting  point  will  not  answer  for 
the  calculation  that  used  to  answer.  The  par  of  former  days 
is  not  the  ■par  of  the  present  day,  and  hence  any  calculations 
which  are  built  upon  the  former  must  be  erroneous.  Now  what 
are  the  facts  of  the  case  ?  Every  one  who  reads  a  commercial 
newspaper,  must  have  seen,  during  many  j-ears  past,  the  price 
of  Spanish  dollars  quoted  in  the  London  market,  in  British  gold 
currency  (the  currency,  let  it  be  observed,  in  which  all  con- 
tracts above  42  shillings  are  payable)  at  about  4s.  lOd.  per 
ounce,  which,  estimating  the  weight  of  the  dollar  at  17dwt. 
6grs.  is  4s.  2d.  each.  The  real  par,  then,  as  nearly  as  one  can 
be  assumed  between  two  commodities  which  are  liable  to  fluc- 
tuations in  their  relative  value,  is  4s.  2d.,  and  it  is  from  this  va- 
luation, as  a  basis,  that  all  sound  calculations  must,  for  the  time 
being,  be  made.     But  we  will  prove  this. 

A  merchant  sends  an  order  to  Manchester  for  an  invoice  of 
goods,  to  cost  exactly  £  1 00  sterling  in  gold.  When  he  imports  these 
goods,  he  knows  that  he  must  sell  them  for  silver,  and  the  first 
thing  he  does,  is  to  calculate  whether  twenty  siher  shillings  are 
equivalent  to  twenty  gold  shillings  ;  or,  in  other  words,  whether 
an  Englishman  means  by  a  shilling,  the  same  amount  of  money 
that  an  American  means.  He  soon  finds  this  out  by  referring 
to  the  estimation  in  which  each  of  them  holds  the  Spanish  dol- 
lar. He  finds  that  the  Englishman  considers  the  Spanish  dol- 
lar as  worth  but  4s.  2d.,  because,  as  it  is  not  a  legal  tender  in 
Great  Britain,  any  more  than  cotton  or  tobacco,  it  is  only 
worth  what  it  will  sell  for  as  merchandise.  The  American,  on 
the  contrary,  has  a  notion,  which  it  is  difficult  to  beat  out  of  his 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  145 

head,  that  a  Spanish  dollar  is  4s.  6d.  sterling.  But  the  mer- 
chant discovers  that,  whatever  the  notion  may  be  which  the 
American  entertains  as  to  the  value  of  the  dollar,  it  can  have 
no  influence  on  the  Englishman,  to  whom  he  owes  the  £100, 
and  he,  accordingly,  in  fixing  his  price  upon  the  imported  article, 
takes  into  consideration  that  every  Spanish  dollar  he  receives 
will  only  pay  4s.  2d.  of  his  debt,  and  that,  consequently,  in  con- 
tracting a  debt  in  England,  for  £100  sterling,  he  has  contract- 
ed a  debt  for  precise!}'-  ^480.  This,  to  be  sure,  in  the  common 
parlance  of  merchants,  is  called  allowing  for  the  exchange,  but 
it  is  in  reality  nothing  more  than  the  reduction  of  one  money  of 
account  into  another. 

The  market  price  at  New  York,  of  a  bill  on  London,  some 
short  time  since,  was  quoted  at  7  per  cent,  above  par.  In  or- 
der, therefore,  to  procure  a  bill  for  £100  sterling,  a  merchant 
would  liave  to  pay  $475  .55,  that  being  the  actual  sum  with 
which  he  could  discharge  his  debt.  So  far,  then,  from  finding 
exchange  to  be  against  him,  it  is  actually  in  his  favour ;  for 
by  purchasing  a  bill  at  7  per  cent,  nominal  premium,  he  can 
pay  his  debt  with  a  less  number  of  dollars  than  if  he  w^ere  to 
ship  the  coin,  besides  saving  the  expense  of  its  shipment. 

We  ought  to  beg  pardon  of  many  of  our  readers,  for  so  fre- 
quent a  repetition  of  the  A  B  C's  of  economical  science.  But 
let  it  be  remembered,  that  the  constant  dropping  of  water  will 
wear  away  stone.  Iron  requires  a  good  many  blows  on  the 
anvil,  before  a  strong  impression  is  made  on  it ;  and,  strange 
as  it  may  appear  at  this  enlightened  day,  we  every  now  and 
then  come  across  a  man  to  W'hom  the  simplest  elements  are  al- 
together new,  and  who  truly  believes  that  an  excess  of  imports 
over  exports,  or  an  exchange,  nominally  unfavourable,  is  evi- 
dence that  the  country  is  going  fast  to  ruin. 


ESSAY   No.   XL  IX. 

AUGUST  4,  1830. 


Influence  of  the  tariff  upon  the  Southern  states.     Total  possible 
consumption  in  the  United  States  of  cotton  fabrics. 

SOME  of  the  Pennsylvania  editors  have  the  most  summary 
mode  of  putting  an  end  to  an  argument  that  can  well  be  devis- 
ed. Some  time  ago  the  Village  Record  disposed  of  the  Inter- 
nal Improvement  question  in  the  following  droll  manner,  and 
pretty  much  in  the  same  words :  "  After  all,  the  best  mode  will 
be,  to  consider  the  question  as  settled,  and  to  go  on  with  the 
N 


146  ESSAYS    ON    THE   PRINCIPLES 

works."     The  President,  however,  has  thought  differently  on 
the  subject,  and,  so  far  from  the  question  being  settled,  we  are 
quite  sure  that  it  never  will  be  settled  upon  the  plan  of  the  Vil- 
lage Record. 
j        Precisely  in  the  same  short-metre  style  has  the  Pennsylvania 
I    Inquirer  lately  handled  the  Tariff  question.     In  making  some 
I    remarks  upon  Mr.  Cheves'  speech,  at  the  State  Rights'  Celebra- 
tion at  Charleston,  it  says : 

"  Mr.  Cheves  declares,  in  reference  to  the  tariff  laws,  that 
the  Southern  states  are  '  bowed  down  and  humbled,'  by  the 
,  rest  of  the  Union,  '  to  colonial  suffering,  dependence,  and  de- 
I  gradation.'  He  attempts  to  sustain  this  position  by  the  argu- 
ment, that  there  are  no  fewer  than  seven  sovereign  states,  whose 
agricultural  staples  require  a  foreign  market,  to  be  of  any  va- 
lue ;  that  they  have  been  deprived  of  this  market  without  their 
own  concurrence,  not  one  of  their  representatives  having  voted 
for  the  tariff,  and  that  their  money  is  taken  from  their  pockets 
without  their  consent  and  against  their  will.  This  is  the  sub- 
stance of  the  argument. 

"  In  reply,  we  contend,  that  the  home  market  for  the  South - 
^ern  staples,  at  least  for  the  great  staple  of  cotton,  the  only  one 
materially  affected  by  the  tariff,  has  extended  more  rapidly 
than  the  foreign  market  has  contracted ;  that  the  home  mar- 
ket is  more  certain,  safe,  and  settled,  than  the  foreign  market, 
and  that  South  Carolina  has  sold  her  cottons  to  as  great  a 
profit,  and  to  as  great  an  extent,  as  if  the  tariff  laws  had  never 
been  passed.  These  are  facts  which  no  theoretical  speculation 
i  -on  the  part  of  Southern  statesmen  can  refute." 
""  It  will  be  here  observed,  that  the  Inquirer  arrives  at  his  con- 
clusion, not  by  argument,  nor  by  any  process  of  reasoning,  but 
by  assuming  as  admitted  the  chief  point  in  dispute.  The  South- 
ern statesmen  assert,  that,  by  the  exclusion  of  foreign  goods, 
which,  if  admitted,  would  be  paid  for  with  cotton,  they  lose  the 
sale  of  that  staple  to  an  amount  at  least  equal  to  the  value  of 
the  articles  excluded,  and  that  this  loss  cannot  possibly  be 
counterbalanced  by  the  increased  demand  of  the  home  market. 
One  reason  for  this  is,  and  it  ought  to  be  conclusive  with  any 
man  who  can  understand  a  simple  proposition,  that  if  cotton 
fabrics  w^ere  imported,  they  would  be  so  much  cheaper  than 
those  made  at  home  that  more  of  them  would  be  consumed 
than  can  n,ow  be  consumed.  That  they  would  be  cheaper,  is 
proved  by  the  necessity  of  the  existence  of  the  high  duty  of 
from  35  to  100  per  cent,  to  shut  them  out ;  so  that,  even  upon 
this  simple  view  of  the  case,  there  would  even  be,  under  low 
duties,  a  greater  demand  for  cotton  to  be  exported  to  Europe 
and  brought  back  in  a  manufactured  state  for  our  use,  than  the 
,, domestic  factories  can  afford.  Another  and  more  important 
Vreason,  however,  consists  in  this,  that  high  duties,  on  iron,  hard- 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  147 

ware,  woollen  goods,  and  the  various  other  articles  that  are 
partly  or  wholly  excluded  by  the  tarifl' system,  diminish  the  Eu- 
ropean demand  for  cotton,  without  increasing  the  domestic  de- 
mand, which  is  only  affected  by  the  exclusion  of  cotton  or  hn- 
en  goods.  Every  duty,  therefore,  which  prevents  the  importa- 
tion of  three  millions  of  dollars  worth  of  such  goods,  destroys 
the  sale  of  100,000  bales  of  cotton,  estimating  each  bale  to 
contain  300  pounds,  at  10  cents  per  pound. 

But  we  have  still  another  position  to  advance,  which  we 
challenge  the  Inquirer,  or  any  paper  north  of  the  Potomac,  to 
refute.  It  is  this — Admitting  (for  the  sake  of  discussion)  that 
the  increased  home  demand,  ^lp  to  this  time,  has  been  equal  to 
the  diminished  foreign  demand,  the  argument  can  have  no  force 
whatever  in  future ;  and  for  this  simple  reason,  that  200,000 
bales  of  cotton,  which  is  now  the  estimated  quantity  manufac- 
tured at  home,  is  the  greatest  possible  quantity  that  can  be  con- 
sumed by  the  present  population,  even  if  there  were  a  total  pro- 
hibition of  every  species  of  cotton  fabric.  This  can  easily  be 
proved,  by  a  statement  which,  we  flatter  ourselves,  will  not  be 
rejected  by  any  one  on  account  of  its  too  narrow  hmits. 

One  pound  of  cotton,  manufactured  into  what  are  commonly 
called  domestics,  will  make  about  five  yards.  Of  finer  and 
lighter  goods,  it  will  make  more  ;  of  coarser  and  heavier  ones, 
it  will  make  less.  One-fifth  of  a  pound  may  perhaps  be  assum- 
ed as  the  average ;  and  if  this  be  admitted,  it  will  follow  that 
200,000  bales  of  cotton,  weighing  each  300  lbs.,  will  make 
300,000,000  yards,  which  is  equal  to  25  yards  for  each  man, 
woman,  and  child,  rich  and  poor,  bond  and  free,  in  the  whole, 
estimating  the  population  at  12,000,000.  Now,  we  would  like 
to  know  whether  the  consumption  of  cotton  goods,  in  all  their 
forms,  is  likely  ever  to  be  pushed,  by  the  present  population, 
beyond  this  enormous  quantity,  and  if  not,  there  can  arise  no 
home  demand  to  compensate  for  the  loss  of  the  foreign  demand, 
now  bearing  its  weight  upon  the  Southern  states.  But  it  may 
be  said,  the  population  will  increase.  Granted  ;  but  producers 
will  also  increase  in  the  same  ratio  with  consumers,  and  the 
relative  position  of  the  two  classes  will  be  the  same  as  before. 
It  will  also  be  said,  that  we  shall  manufacture  for  exportation. 
Granted ;  but,  whatever  wiseacres  and  conjurers  may  say  to 
the  contrary,  no  nation  can  compete  to  advantage  with  another 
in  a  foreign  market,  when  she  cannot  do  it  in  her  own.  To 
pretend  that  our  manufiicturcrs  of  cotton  can  send  their  goods 
to  South  America,  and  after  paying  freight,  insurance,  com- 
missions, duties,  and  other  charges,  can  undersell  the  British, 
when,  without  incurring  these  expenses,  they  cannot  do  it  at 
home  without  a  duty  of  from  35  to  100  per  cent.,  is  just  as  ab- 
surd as  to  suppose  that  Mr.  Henry  Pratt  could  export  coffee, 
raised  in  his  hot-house,  to  Europe,  to  undersell  the  Brazilians. 


148  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

An  occasional  lucky  voyage  may  be  made  to  some  of  the  un- 
settled countries  of  the  South,  where  the  markets  are  sometimes 
understocked,  in  the  same  manner  that  European  goods  im- 
ported into  this  country,  are  sometimes  advantageously  export- 
ed, even  though  burthened  with  the  charges  of  import,  from 
which  articles  direct  from  Europe  are  exempt ;  but  any  man 
who  sutlers  himself  to  believe  that  his  once  drawing  a  prize  in 
a  lottery,  is  any  proof  that  lotteries  are. a  profitable  concern, 
for  all  who  adventure,  must  be  under  a  high  degree  of  delusion, 
and  if  he  gets  ruined  by  his  folly,  he  will  have  nobody  to  blame 
but  himself. 


ESSAY     No.   L. 


AUGUST  4,   1830. 

SJiort  cuts.     The  American  System  adverse  to  the  policy  of  pro- 
curing commodities  at  the  least  cost  of  labour. 

EVERY  person  who  has  passed  any  time  in  the  country, 
must  have  observed  how  very  sagacious  the  farmers  are  in 
finding  out  shoi-t  cuts.  If  there  be  a  blacksmith's  shop  which 
can  be  got  at  by  a  shorter  route  than  the  main  road,  you  are 
sure  to  see  a  foot  path  crossing  the  fields  in  one  of  those  crook- 
ed-straight lines  that  invariably  characterize  a  track  from  one 
set  of  bars  to  another.  Now,  why  does  the  farmer  go  across  the 
fields,  sometimes  treading  down  his  grain  and  destroying  the 
productive  power  of  a  long  strip  of  his  land  1  Why  does  he  not 
go  along  the  main  road  ?  The  answer  is  simple  enough :  be- 
cause the  value  of  the  time  and  labour  he  saves  by  going  the 
shortest  way,  more  than  counterbalances  the  loss  of  his  grain. 

This  practice  of  taking  short  cuts,  is  visible  every  where, 
when  labourers  work  for  themselves.  There  is  a  sort  of  in- 
stinct which  leads  people  of  every  grade  of  intellect  to  find  out 
how  they  can  do  the  most  with  the  least  trouble.  Even  the 
brute  creation  is  governed  by  the  same  principle,  and  cattle  al- 
ways take  the  shortest  route  they  can  find  to  the  watering  place. 
In  agriculture  there  is  a  constant  eflbrt  going  on  to  make  two 
blades  of  grass  grow  where  one  only  used  to  grow  before.  In 
commerce  and  navigation  there  is  every  day  some  improve- 
ment by  which  transportation  can  be  efiected  with  less  labour 
and  in  less  time  than  before,  whilst  in  manufactures,  so  nume- 
rous have  been  the  short  cuts  discovered  by  the  ingenuity  of 
man,  that  in  some  branches,  one  man  can  do  what  it  before  re- 
quired ten  to  perform. 

To  the  persons  who  are  practically  engaged  in  these  various 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  149 

pursuits,  these  improvements  are  known  and  are  distinctly  visi- 
ble. But  to  those  who  are  not  so  engaged,  they  only  become 
manifest  in  the  effect  which  they  are  seen  to  produce,  that  is, 
a  fall  in  the  prices  of  articles.  This  fall  in  prices  is  nothing  in 
the  world  but  an  evidence  that  somebody  has  found  out  a  short 
cut,  by  which  the  cheapened  articles  can  be  produced  with 
less  labour,  or  in  less  time,  than  before,  and  hence  cheapness  is 
synonymous  with  a  diminution  of  labour.  If  a  man  can  earn 
to  day,  by  one  day's  work,  or  what  is  the  same  thing,  the  price 
of  one  day's  work,  as  much  of  any  particular  article,  as  he 
could  yesterday  only  procure  witli  two  days'  work,  it  is  very 
clear  that  his  condition  is  bettered ;  and  as  well  might  one  at- 
tempt to  prove  that  the  moon  was  made  of  green  cheese,  as  to 
prove  that  cheapness  is  not  a  solid  blessing,  inasmuch  as  it  en- 
ables people  to  get  more  of  a  thing  than  they  could  otherwise 
get  with  the  same  labour. 

Any  system,  therefore,  whether  it  be  called  "  American,"  or 
any  thing  else,  the  object  of  which  is  to  keep  up  the  prices  of 
goods,  is  a  system  which  declares  that  it  is  better  for  people  to 
have  few  things  than  many  things,  one  coat  than  two  coats,  one 
pound  of  sugar  than  two  pounds,  one  bushel  of  salt  than  two 
bushels,  one  pound  of  coffee  than  two  pounds,  one  ploughshare, 
one  axe,  one  spade,  one  shovel,  than  double  the  number.  It  is, 
in  fine,  a  system  which  decrees  that  the  farmer  shall  not  take 
a  short  cut  to  the  blacksmith's  shop,  but  shall  go  all  the  way 
around  by  the  road,  when,  perhaps,  his  ploughshare  wants 
sharpening,  and  the  weather  threatens  to  rain,  and  the  delay 
may  be  fatal  to  his  interests.  Many  a  crop  has  been  lost  by  an 
hour's  loss  of  time. 


ESSAY    No.    LI. 

AUGUST  18,   1830. 


Tendency  of  the  protective  policy  to  prevent  emigration  to  the 
West.  The  doctrine  that  agricnlture  is  overdone,  denied. 
Contrast  between  the  condition  of  a  farmer,  and  that  of  an 
operator  in  a  factory. 

ONE  of  the  greatest  delusions  which  belongs  to  the  American 
System,  is  that  so  widely  entertained  amongst  the  people  of 
the  Western  country,  that  their  interests  arc  promoted  by  a  po- 
licy, of  which  the  tendency  is  to  prevent  emigration  from  the 
Atlantic  states.  The  states  of  Kentucky,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illi- 
nois, Missouri,  and  the  territories  of  Michigan  and  Arkansas, 
have  within  their  limits  more  than  a  hundred  millions  of  acres 
of  uncultivated  lands,  which  can  only  possess  a  value  by  an  in- 
N* 


150  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

crease  of  population.  Their  true  policy,  therefore,  undoubted- 
ly is,  to  encourage  emigration  from  tiic  Eastern  states,  and  it 
has  only  been  within  a  few  years  that  they  have  been  blind  to 
this  palpable  truth.  In  the  ordinary  course  of  things,  the  West- 
ern country  would  be  the  natural  retreat  for  the  surplus  popu- 
lation of  New  England  and  the  middle  States ;  and  of  the  mil- 
lion of  souls  who  have  taken  up  their  abode  in  Ohio,  within  for- 
ty years,  the  great  body  are  from  those  sections  of  country. 
It  is  this  emigration  which  has  caused  her  forests  to  disappear, 
her  uncultivated  wildernesses  to  be  inhabited,  and  her  whole  sur- 
face to  be  covered  whh  farms  and  thriving  villages.  What 
then  should  have  induced  her  population  to  favour  the  adoption 
of  a  system,  the  tendency  of  which  is  evidently  to  check  the 
streams  of  emigration  1  If  manufactures  are  to  be  raised  up, 
according  to  the  theory  of  the  American  System  philosophers, 
to  prevent  people  from  turning  farmers,  it  is  very  manifest  that 
the  cflect  of  such  a  measure  will  be  to  retain  in  the  districts 
best  adapted  for  manufactures,  the  population  which  would 
otherwise  have  emigrated.  And  where  are  those  districts? 
Clearly  in  New  England  and  the  middle  states,  where  the  po- 
pulation is  dense,  and  capital  abundant,  and  where  labourers 
can  bo  more  advantageously  procured  than  they  can  possibly 
be  in  a  new  country,  where  land  can  be  purchased  in  fee  sim- 
ple at  one  dollar  and  a  quarter  per  acre,  and  where  a  very  ht- 
tle  start  in  the  world  will  enable  every  man  to  be  his  own  mas- 
ter and  the  owner  of  a  farm. 

Amongst  the  advocates  of  the  American  System  along  the 
seaboard,  there  is  a  perpetual  cry  that  agriculture  is  overdone, 
that  no  more  people  can  get  their  hving  by  agriculture  than 
those  already  engaged  in  it.  Was  ever  such  sheer  nonsense 
heard  in  any  country  but  this  ?  What,  are  we  to  be  told,  that 
because  a  farmer  who  cultivates  poor  land  in  Philadelphia 
county  cannot  grow  rich  in  a  few  years,  that  therefore  one  who 
emigrates  to  Ohio,  buys  eighty  acres  of  land  for  one  hundred 
dollars,  and  in  one  year's  time  is  as  independent  for  his  food, 
necessary  clothing,  fuel,  and  lodging,  as  the  wealthiest  nabob  in 
the  land,  cannot  get  his  living  as  well  as  one  who  is  content  to 
be  cooped  up  in  a  cotton  or  woollen  factory?  Compare  the  situ- 
ation of  the  two  individuals.  Look  at  the  robust,  hardy,  yeo- 
man of  the  West,  seated  on  his  farm  of  eighty  acres,  with  his 
table  groaning  under  the  weight  of  the  meat,  bread,  vegetables, 
and  fruit,  which  his  labour  readily  produces — with  his  family 
warmly  clad  with  cloth  woven  out  of  yarn  spun  in  his  own 
house  by  his  wife  and  daughters ;  seated  before  a  fire  sufficient 
to  roast  an  ox,  and  sheltered  from  the  winter's  cold  by  a  cot- 
tage built  by  his  own  labour  and  that  of  his  hospitable  neigh- 
bours. See  him,  healthful  and  sprightly,  go  through  his  daily 
work,  master  of  his  own  actions,  accountable  for  the   steady 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  151 

employment  of  his  time  ^to  no  earthly  superior,  and  enjoying 
himself,  after  the  fatigues  of  the  day  are  over,  with  reading  the 
news,  or  studying  the  politics  in  which  he  or  his  sons  may  be- 
come conspicuous  actors.  Then  turn  your  eyes  to  the  work- 
shop, and  behold  the  emaciated,  slender  form  of  the  weaver, 
seated  at  his  loom — accompany  him  home  to  his  table,  furnish- 
ed with  the  most  scanty  fare,  produced  at  the  cost  of  his  unre- 
mitting toil.  Behold  his  family,  slenderly  clad,  and  perhaps  oc- 
cupied in  the  same  or  a  similar  prison  with  himself — breathing 
stagnant  air,  the  hbres  of  cotton,  and  the  exhalations  of  oil,  and 
of  dying  drugs;  and  all  huddling  at  night  around  a  dark  chunk 
or  two,  in  a  crowded  upper  room  of  a  tenement  of  which  he 
can  with  difficulty  pay  the  rent.  See  him,  heavy  and  sorrow- 
ful, followed  by  his  young  children,  not  one  of  them  having  a 
minute  of  time  they  can  call  their  own,  bending  their  course  to 
the  factory,  where,  day  after  day,  week  after  week,  month  after 
month,  year  after  year,  their  eyes  behold  nothing  but  the  whirl- 
ing of  spindles,  the  motion  of  shuttles,  and  the  revolution  of 
wheels — and  where  their  ears  hear  nothing  but  the  noise  of  ma- 
chinery, or  the  reproving  voice  of  a  task-master,  hired  to  see 
that  not  a  second  is  lost  by  conversation  or  rest.  See  him,  un- 
acquainted with  the  news,  or  the  politics  of  the  day,  and  so  de- 
pendent upon  his  employers  for  his  daily  bread  that  he  cannot 
refuse  to  vote  the  ticket  which  they  may  put  into  his  hand,  with- 
out the  slighest  prospect  that  either  he  or  his  posterity  can  ever 
take  a  part  in  public  affairs,  or  be  other  than  spinners  and 
weavers,  living  from  hand  to  mouth.  Compare  the  situations 
of  these  two  individuals,  we  say,  and  then  answer  whether  a 
system,  which  is  calculated  to  turn  into  slaves  those  who  might 
be  freemen,  to  retain  in  ignorance  and  poverty  those  who  might 
become  enlightened  and  prosperous,  to  impair  the  morals  and 
health  of  those  who  might  remain  chaste  and  healthful,  is  not 
as  anti-republican  as  it  is  mischievous  and  wicked  1 

But  it  is  not  necessary  diat  all  who  emigrate  should  become 
farmers.  There  are  in  the  West,  mechanic  and  manufacturing 
employments,  which  require  no  artificial  aid  from  tariff  laws  to 
support  them,  sufficient  to  afford  occupation  for  all  the  emi- 
grants who  can  be  spared  from  the  over-populated  districts. 
Carpenters,  bricklayers,  masons,  plasterers,  painters,  glaziers, 
tinmen,  coppersmiths,  tailors,  shoemakers,  hatters,  dyers,  mill- 
ers, boatmen,  wagoners,  welldiggers,  joiners,  blacksmiths,  and 
numerous  others,  are  wanted  throughout  the  whole  Western 
country,  and  will  continue  to  be  wanted  so  long  as  population 
increases.  A  field  is  open  for  miVions  of  emigrants  in  the  vast 
regions  which  are  comprised  within  the  valley  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  nothing  is  calculated  to  retard  that  emigration  so 
much  as  the  American  System,  which  teaches,  that  it  is  bet- 
ter for  people  to  bow  the  neck  to  masters  in  Rhode  Island, 


152  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

Massachusetts,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  and 
Maryland,  or  to  waste  their  (capitals  in  iruitless  altcm|.ts  to 
raise  wool  cheaper  than  it  can  be  had  abroad,  than  to  become 
freemen  in  the  West,  with  the  certdinty  of  maintenance  from 
whatever  pursuit  a  man  may  be  engaged  in.  In  the  Western 
country  nothing  is  heard  of  town  meetings  to  lay  contributions 
upon  the  citizens  for  the  relief  of  the  indigent.  Every  man, 
woman,  and  child,  capable  and  willing  to  work,  can  find  em- 
ployment and  subsistence.  This  we  speak  from  personal  obser- 
vation made  in  course  of  two  journeys  through  Ohio,  during 
the  years  1821  and  1828  ;  and  were  it  not  for  the  temptations 
held'  out  by  the  hopes  that  the  tariff  system — which  has  thus 
far  wholly  failed  as  a  means  of  increasing  employment  for  the 
poor — may  still  bring  about  the  event,  which,  like  an  ignis  fa- 
iuus,  has  avoided  the  grasp  of  its  pursuers,  emigration  would 
be  continued  with  redoubled  vigor ;  and  the  philanthropist  and 
true  patriot,  who  desires  only  the  happiness  of  the  great  Ame- 
rican family,  and  feels  no  jealousy  of  the  growing  power  of  the 
West,  would  have  the  satisfaction  to  see  his  fellow  citizens  en- 
joying that  abundance  and  independence  which  are  so  essen- 
tial to  the  preservation  of  the  prosperity  and  liberties  of  the 
people. 


ESSAY    No.    LI  I. 


SEPTEMBER    1,    1830. 


Tico  modes  of  -producivg  cloth — the  "process  called  manvfacture, 
and  the  -process  called  commerce.  High  duties  are  taxes  up- 
on those  irho  produce  cloth  by  the  latter  process.  Mr.  McDvf- 
Jie's  speech. 

IN  that  part  of  Mr.  McDuffie's  speech  which  was  published 
in  our  last  paper,  a  view  of  the  tariff  question  was  presented, 
which  could  not  fail  to  have  arrested  the  attention  of  the  reader, 
and  convinced  him  more  and  more  of  the  injustice  of  the  re- 
strictive system,  as  to  its  operation  on  the  interests  of  the  cot- 
ton, rice,  and  tobacco  growing  states.  The  view  referred  to 
we  shall  notice  after  a  few  prefatory  remarks. 

There  are  two  modes  of  producing  cotton  and  woollen  fa- 
brics :  one  is,  by  the  process  called  manufacture,  and  the  other 
is,  by  the  process  called  agriculture  and  commerce.  The 
former  mode  is  resorted  to  when  goods  are  made  near  at  hand, 
and  the  latter,  when  they  are  made  at  a  distance.  Each  mode, 
however,  requires  equally  the  employment  of  American  indus- 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  153 

try,  although  this  industry  is  employed  in  different  ways. 
When  the  fabric  is  produced  by  the  process  of  manvfaclure, 
the  labourers  are  employed  in  workshops.  When  it  is  pro- 
duced by  the  process  of  agriculture  and  commerce,  the  labour- 
ers are  employed  in  fields  and  in  ships.  Now,  we  apprehend 
that  no  one  would  assert,  that  the  labour  of  agriculturists  and 
sailors  was  less  important  to  the  country  than  that  of  opera- 
tives -in  a  factory,  and  that  it  should  be  less  entitled  to  the  re- 
spect and  consideration  of  the  community.  They  must  there- 
fore be  considered  as  standing  on  the  same  footing,  and  conse- 
quently that  system  which  sets  in  motion  the  industry  of  the 
planters,  farmers,  merchants,  seamen,  ship-carpenters,  rope- 
makers,  sailmakers,  riggers,  pilots,  stevidores,  painters,  plumb- 
ers, ships'  smiths,  and  caulkers,  w'ith  the  dozen  other  occupa- 
tions connected  with  agriculture,  navigation,  and  commerce,  is 
just  as  much  entitled  to  legislative  regard,  as  that  which  sets  in 
motion  the  industry  of  spinners  and  weavers. 

But  as  this  is  a  very  important  matter  to  be  settled,  we  shall 
elucidate  these  positions. 

Paul  and  Peter  are  two  neighbours,  living  in  the  country, 
with  large  families,  for  the  clothing  of  which  they  each  re- 
quire, annually,  five  hundred  yards  of  woollen  cloth.  It  is  there- 
fore of  great  consequence  lo  them,  that  they  should  get  their 
supplies  at  the  least  possible  cost  of  labour,  or,  what  is  the  same 
thing,  of  money — for  labour,  worth  one  dollar  cash,  is  just  of  as 
much  value  as  the  dollar  which  is  paid  for  it.  Paul  is  an  Ame- 
rican System  man,  who  has  taken  up  the  notion  that  it  is  for 
his  interest  to  make  his  own  cloth,  and  he  accordingly  employs 
a  part  of  his  family,  say  five  persons,  in  carrying  on  the  pro- 
cess of  manufacture.  Peter,  on  the  contrary,  is  a  free  trade 
man,  who  thinks  it  for  his  interest  to  buy  his  cloth  from  some- 
body else,  for  he  has  made  a  calculation  that,  "with  the  labour 
of  three  of  his  family,  two  in  the  field  and  one  in  a  ship,  he 
can  raise  as  much  cotton,  rice,  tobacco,  wheat,  beef,  pork,  or 
something  else,  as  will,  if  sent  abroad,  purchase  his  500  yards 
of  cloth.  It  is  true,  that  under  his  system,  he  has  only  three 
of  his  family  employed  in  producing  him  500  yards  of  cloth, 
whereas  Paul  has  five  employed,  but  he  sees,  at  the  same  time, 
that  he  is  a  clear  gainer  of  the  value  of  the  labour  of  two  hands, 
which  he  can  employ  in  producing  something  that  Paul  will 
have  to  do  without ;  and,  at  all  events,  he  perceives  that  he 
would  be  quite  as  well  off  as  Paul,  even  if  these  two  extra  hands 
were,  for  the  sake  of  keeping  them  employed,  set  to  turning 
grindstones  all  day. 

Now  we  should  like  to  know  whether  the  agricultural  and 
commercial  process  of  producing  cloth,  is  not  just  as  much 
American  industry  as  the  manufacturing  process  ?  To  deny 
such  a  plain  proposition  would  not  be  less  absurd  than  to  deny 


154  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

that  two  and  two  are  four,  and  we  cannot  believe  it  possible 
that  any  one  can  be  found  so  blind  as  not  to  see  it. 

We  now  come  to  Mr.  McDuffie's  theory.  If  it  be  true,  that 
the  agricultural  and  commercial  process  of  making  cloth,  is  as 
much  American  industry  as  the  manufacturing  process,  is  there 
any  reason  why  any  distinction  should  be  made  by  law,  which 
should  favour  one  more  than  the  other?  We  certainly  can  see 
none.  Suppose  a  hatter  should  discover  a  prbcess  by  which 
he  could  make  a  good  hat  for  two  dollars,  of  a  quality  that  his 
neighbours  could  not  sell  for  less  than  four,  would  it  be  just  to 
prohibit  by  law  this  man  from  making  hats,  for  fear  it  would 
injure  the  others?  Suppose  a  farmer,  by  the  discovery  of  some 
new  compost  or  mode  of  tillage,  could  produce  double  the  (juan- 
tity  of  wheat  on  an  acre  that  the  neighbouring  farmers  could 
produce,  would  it  be  right  to  prohibit  him  from  raising  wheat, 
because  he  could  undersell  his  neighbours  ?  Suppose  an  iron 
master  should,  by  the  process  of  rolling  pig  iron  into  bars,  be 
able  to  sell  bar  iron  at  twenty  dollars  a  ton  less  than  others  who 
pursued  the  hanimerhig  process,  would  it  be  right  to  prevent 
him  from  enjoying  the  benefit  of  his  discovery  for  fear  of  injur- 
ing the  interests  of  the  others  ?  No  one  will  pretend  to  answer 
in  the  affirmative  to  any  of  these  questions.  And  now,  let  us 
ask,  if  one  portion  of  our  citizens,  by  applying  their  industry  to 
the  agricidtural  and  commercial  process  of  making  cloth,  can 
afford  to  sell  it  for  half  the  price  that  others  can  who  make  it 
by  the  manufacturing  process,  is  it  right  that  they  should  be 
prohibited  from  enjoying  the  benefit,  which,  according  to  the 
rules  of  natural  and  political  justice,  is  their  birthright?  We 
can  see  none.  And  yet  what  is  the  fact  ?  Why,  that  such  pro- 
hibition is  now  actually  enforced  by  a  system  of  taxation,  as 
iniquitous  and  unjust  as  it  is  oppressive  and  unconstitutional. 
Protecting  duties,  as  they  are  insidiously  called,  in  favour  of 
those  who  produce  cloth  by  the  manufacturing  process,  are  no- 
thing in  the  irorld  hut  taxes  upon  the  industry  of  those  American 
citizens,  irho  produce  cloth  by  the  agricultural  and  commercial 
process.  Can  a  free  people  be  so  blind  to  their  interests,  or  so 
deaf  to  the  calls  of  justice,  as  to  suffer  such  fraud  and  injustice 
longer  to  exist  ? 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  155 

ESSAY    No.    LI  II. 

SEPTEMBER.   1,    1830. 

The  settled  policy  doctrine  at  war  vith  the  march  of  improve- 
ment. Absurdity  of  supposing  that  the  vested  interests  of  in- 
dividuals should  be  preferred  to  the  great  interests  of  the 
community. 

AMONGST  the  advocates  of  the  tariff  system,  there  is  a 
class  of  individuals  whom  we  have  sometimes  distinguished  by 
the  appellation  of  settled  policy  men,  and  in  reference  to  whose 
theory  we  propose  to  say  a  few  words.  These  individuals  are 
at  heart  believers  in  all  the  doctrines  of  free  trade,  but  having 
attached  themselves  to  a  particular  party,  or  to  a  particular 
candidate  for  the  Presidency,  or,  considering  their  own  political 
elevation  to  depend  upon  supporting  the  policy  called  for  by  a 
majority  of  their  constituents,  have  thought  proper  to  desert  the 
standard  of  what  they  know  to  be  the  truth.  In  doing  this, 
however,  they  have  met  with  difficulties  not  easily  surmounted. 
A  conscientious  man,  w'ho  considers  himself  subject  to  the 
law  of  political  as  well  as  moral  honesty,  cannot  at  his  pleasure 
turn  and  twist  important  principles,  so  as  to  adapt  them  to  his 
interest ;  and  hence  has  originated  the  necessity  for  some  ex- 
pedient, which  should  have  the  double  effect  of  blinding  the  eyes 
of  the  public,  and,  to  a  certain  extent,  those  of  the  individual  him- 
self This  expedient  is,  to  justify  the  support  of  the  tariff  upon 
the  ground,  not  that  it  is  founded  upon  true  principles  of  politi- 
cal economy,  but  that,  having  been  once  adopted,  it  ought  to  be 
adhered  to. 

Any  one  W'ho  reflects  for  a  moment,  can  see  the  mischievous 
tendency  of  such  a  doctrine.  It  is  a  doctrine  calculated  to  per- 
petuate error,  and  is  at  war  with  all  the  lights  of  the  age,  and 
with  the  advancement  of  human  knowledge.  It  would  be  as 
strong  a  warranty  for  the  perpetuation  of  the  blue  laws  of 
Connecticut,  did  they  still  exist,  or  for  the  drowning  of  witches, 
had  that  once  settled  policy  not  been  abandoned,  as  for  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  tariff.  But,  say  its  advocates,  regard  must  be 
had  to  the  vested  interests  of  those  who  have  embarked  in  manu- 
factures, upon  the  faith  of  the  laws  of  181G,  '24,  and  *28.  And 
why  so  ?  we  would  ask.  Was  any  pledge  given  by  the  law  of 
1816,  that  even  the  comparatively  moderate  duties  of  that  day 
would  be  rendered  perpetual  !  So  far  from  it,  that  law  express- 
ly declared,  that  the  duty  of  twenty-five  per  cent,  imposed  upon 
cotton  and  woollen  fabrics,  ivas  only  to  continue  three  years,  and 
was  then  to  be  reduced  to  twenty  per  cent;  and,  even  so  late 
as  1818,  when  the  stipulation  for  three  years  was  cancelled,  it 
was  only  by  prolonging  the  temporary  character  of  the  pro- 


156  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

tection  for  seven  additional  years.  There  is  not  therefore  a 
shadow  of  justice  in  any  claim  set  up  by  those  who  embarked 
in  the  cotton  and  w^oollen  manufactures  prior  to  1824,  since  the 
then  existing  laws  positively  declared,  that  their  protective  op- 
eration was  to  cease  in  182G.  Can  any  thing  be  clearer  than 
this  i  Laws  exist,  declaring  that  a  certain  duty  of  25  per  cent, 
shall  continue  until  "  the  tliirtieth  of  June,  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  twenty-six,"  upon  cotton  and  woollen  fabrics,  and 
shall  then  be  reduced  to  twenty  per  cent.  With  these  laws 
staring  them  in  the  face,  speaking  a  language  not  susceptible  of 
misconstruction,  some  hundreds  of  individuals  invest  their  ca- 
pitals in  manufacturing  establishments,  and  then,  with  a  hardi- 
hood and  effrontery  not  easily  to  be  imagined,  come  forward 
and  say,  we  are  entitled  to  an  eternal  tax  upon  the  industry  of 
the  country,  because  w'e  embarked  in  manufactures  upon  the 
faith  of  the  law^s. 

But  it  may  be  said  by  the  settled  •policy  men,  we  allude  more 
especially  to  that  class  of  people  who  did  not  engage  in  manu- 
factures until  the  temporanj  character  of  the  protecting  laws 
was  laid  aside  by  its  entire  omission  in  the  act  of  1824.  And 
pray,  w^as  there  any  stipulation  in  that  act,  w'hich  guarantied 
duties /ore uer;  of  50  to  175  per  cent,  upon  coarse  cottons,  of 
45  to  225  per  cent,  upon  woollen  goods,  and  of  100  to  180  per 
cent,  upon  iron  'I  Did  not  the  act  bear  upon  its  face  the  charac- 
ter of  a  law  for  raising  revenue,  wdth  the  two-fold  design  of 
supporting  the  government  and  of  paying  off  the  national  debt  ? 
And  how  could  such  a  law  be  presumed  to  be  intended  to  be 
continued  after  the  entire  discharge  of  the  debt?  No  inference 
in  favour  of  perpetuity  can  certainly  be  drawn  either  from  the 
body  of  the  law,  or  from  its  title,  and  it  can  therefore  only.be 
regarded  as  upon  the  footing  of  all  other  general  laws,  that  is, 
to  last  as  long  as  the  interests  of  the  country,  as  understood  by 
Congress,  should  require.  Does  then  the  passage  of  such  a  law 
involve  any  pledge,  that  it  will  never  be  altered  so  as  to  give  a 
claim  for  indemnity  to  those  who  have  embarked  in  a  lottery, 
with  the  full  knowledge,  that  in  a  popular  government  there  can 
be  no  settled  legislative  policy  1  We  think  not,  and  to  make 
this  matter  more  clear,  we  will  illustrate  it  by  an  analogous 
case  or  two. 

The  state  of  Pennsylvania  within  the  last  twenty  years  has 
granted  acts  of  incorporation  for  the  construction  of  a  turnpike 
road  from  Harrisburg  to  Pittsburg.  These  laws  have  induced 
thousands  of  individuals  to  embark  their  capitals  in  that  under- 
taking. Within  the  last  five  years,  the  Legislature  of  Pennsyl- 
vania has  ascertained  that  the  general  welfare  of  the  state 
would  be  promoted  by  the  construction  of  a  canal  from  Harris- 
burg to  Pittsburg,  and  she  accordingly  embarks  in  the  enter- 
prise.   The  effect  of  this  improvement  wdll  be  as  complete  an 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  157 

annihilation  of  the  turnpike  road  as  a  productive  capital  to  the 
stockholders,  as  if  it  had  been  swallowed  up  by  an  earthquake, 
inasmuch  as  it  is  hardly  probable  that  its  receipts  from  tolls, 
after  the  completion  of  the  canal,  will  be  more  than  adequate 
to  keep  it  in  repair.  Now,  would  it  be  sound  reasoning  to  say, 
that  the  state  should  not  have  undertaken  the  construction  of 
this  canal,  from  regard  to  the  vested  interests  of  those  who  had 
shown  their  patriotic  enterprise  in  constructing  the  road  ?  How- 
ever much  we  may  regret  the  individual  loss  attendant  upon 
such  improvements,  yet  all  speculations  must  needs  be  entered 
upon,  subject  to  all  the  risks,  seen  and  not  seen,  which  may  oc- 
cur by  a  change  of  policy,  or  the  discovery  of  new  lights,  or 
from  any  other  cause.  Without  such  risk,  no  enterprise  can  be 
imagined  at  the  present  day.  A  canal  may  be  superseded  by 
a  rail  road  to-morrow — a  rail  road  placed  on  the  ground,  m.ay 
be  superseded  by  one  raised  in  the  air.  Not  a  machine  is  in- 
vented, but  may  be  improved  upon ;  and  no  doubt  one  great 
source  of  the  distress  existing  amongst  manufacturers,  arises 
from  the  interests  vested  in  old  machiney,  which  is  rendered 
useless  and  valueless  by  new  discoveries.  And  shall  the  march 
of  improvement  be  arrested  because  the  owners  of  the  old-fa- 
shioned hand  looms  and  spinning  wheels  will  have  no  further 
occasion  for  those  antiquated  mstruments  ?  Between  this  case 
and  that  of  the  tariff,  there  is  a  perfect  analogy.  The  tariff 
system  is  a  system  which  holds  on  to  old  notions.  It  says,  that 
the  turnpike  road  is  better  than  the  canal ;  that  old  machinery  is 
preferable  to  the  newly-invented ;  that  wheelbarrows  are  to  be 
preferred  to  horse-carts  for  the  conveyance  of  burthens.  And 
how  does  it  say  so  ?  Why,  by  declaring  that  dear  things  are 
better  than  cheap  things ;  for,  to  render  things  cheap,  is  the 
great  end  and  object  of  all  improvements. 

Again.  A  law  is  passed  by  a  state,  for  locating  the  seat  of  jus- 
tice in  a  new  county.  A  courthouse  and  jail  are  built,  and  hou- 
ses are  erected  for  the  lawyers,  judges,  tavernkeepers,  black 
smiths,  merchants,  and  the  hundreds  of  others,  who  remove 
thither  for  no  other  reason  but  that  it  is  the  county  town.  After  a 
while,  the  centre  of  population  requires  a  new  location.  Those 
whose  properly  is  to  be  deserted,  cry  out  "  vested  interests  ;" 
we  are  to  be  ruined ;  we  embarked  our  property  upon  the  faith 
of  the  laws,  &c.  Must  the  county  town  remain  as  before,  to 
the  great  inconvenience  of  the  people,  merely  to  save  from  loss 
those  who  had  built  houses  in  it  ?  If  this  be  true  doctrine,  great 
injustice  w^as  done  to  the  people  of  Lancaster,  when  the  seat 
of  the  State  Government  of  Pennsylvania  was  removed  to  Har- 
risburg,  and  still  greater  to  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  from  which 
it  had  before  been  removed. 

Again.  The  time  may  possibly  arrive,  at  which  the  location 
of  the  seat  of  the  Federal  Government  at  Washington  may  be- 


158  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

come  unsatisfactory.  But  a  city  containing  dwelling  houses 
for  twenty  thousand  inhabitants  has  sprung  up,  altogether  in 
consequence  of  that  location,  on  a  spot  which,  otherwise,  at  this 
day,  might  have  been  an  unproductive  farm  or  two.  Millions 
of  dollars  have  been  invested  in  public  and  private  buildings, 
and  a  removal  of  the  government  to  any  other  place  would  an- 
nihilate the  value  of  property  now  worth  an  immense  sum. 
Would  it  be  pretended,  that  because  of  these  vested  interests, 
the  Seat  of  Government  should  never  be  removed  ?  We  think 
not,  and  for  the  very  simple  reason,  that  the  greatest  good  of 
the  greatest  number  is  always  to  be  consulted  by  all  govern- 
ments, and  because  every  man  who  has  built  a  house  at  Wash- 
ington, has  built  it  with  a  full  knowledge  of  the  possibility  that 
it  may  some  day  lose  a  part  of  its  value,  if  not  the  whole,  by 
a  transfer  of  the  government  to  some  other  quarter. 

Our  limits  will  not  allow  us  to  go  further,  at  this  time,  but 
we  shall  in  our  next  continue  the  subject,  and  endeavour  to 
drive  the  settled  policy  men  out  of  the  corner  in  which  they  have 
been  penned  up,  and  from  which  they  continue  to  cry  out,  "  Al- 
though we  believe  in  the  doctrine  of  free  trade,  yet  we  are  of 
opinion  that,  as  a  pure  question  of  political  economy,  it  would 
be  unwise,  after  millions  of  dollars  have  been  invested  in  ma- 
nufactures, to  withdraw  the  protection  now  extended  to  them, 
inasmuch  as  by  such  withdrawal,  more  would  be  lost  than 
gained." 


ESSAY   No.    LIV. 


SEPTEMBER   1,    1830. 


The  Monkey  System.     The  case  of  robbing  Peter  to  pay  Paul, 
fairly  stated. 

THE  following  article  is  copied  from  the  Georgia  Journal : 
"  The  Monkey  System. — The  Examiner  newspaper  for  Octo- 
ber 4,  tells  us :  '  The  monkeys  of  Exeter  'Change,  in  London, 
used  to  be  confined  in  a  row  of  narrow  cages,  each  of  which 
had  a  pan  in  the  centre  of  its  front,  for  the  monkey's  food. 
When  all  the  monkeys  were  supplied  with  their  messes,  it  was 
observable  that  scarcely  any  one  of  them  eat  out  of  his  own 
pan.  Each  thrust  his  arms  thi'ough  the  bars,  and  robbed  his 
right  or  left  hand  neighbour.  Half  what  was  so  seized,  was 
spilt  and  lost  in  the  conveyance ;  and  while  one  monkey  was  so 
unprofitably  engaged  in  plundering,  his  own  pan  was  exposed 
to  similar  depredations.  The  mingled  knavery  and  absurdity 
was  shockingly  human.' 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  159 

"  We  beg  leave  once  for  all  to  state,  that  we  have  adopted 
the  preceding  paragraph  as  a  standing  motto  for  our  remarks 
on  the  '  American  System.'  It  suits  the  purpose  so  weW  that  we 
can't  dispense  with  it.  It  fits  like  a  bug's  shirt,  as  they  say. 
And  we  intend  to  keep  it  up  until  Clay  and  Niles  and  Carey, 
one  and  all  of  them,  turn  in  and  advocate  our  branch  of  it,  call- 
ed the  Raccoon  System." 

The  analogy  between  the  Monkey  System  and  the  American 
System,  is  as  perfect  as  it  is  possible  for  an  analogy  to  be.  It 
is  the  robbing  Peter  of  a  dollar,  paying  Paul  half-a-dollar,  and 
throwing  the  other  half  into  the  sea,  and  then  insisting  upon  it, 
that  this  operation  is  a  positive  gain  to  the  joint  concern  of  Pe- 
ter, Paul,  &  Co.  As  there  may  however  be  some  of  our  read- 
ers who  cannot  exactly  see  how  this  is,  we  will  make  it  plain. 

Paul  is  a  manufacturer  of  woollen  cloth  at  Pawtucket.  Ow- 
ing to  the  high  rate  of  wages  in  this  country,  arising  chiefly 
from  the  cheapness  of  good  land  in  the  Western  states,  which 
enables  any  man  icith  a  hundred  dollars  to  buy  himself  a  farm 
of  eighty  acres,  and  to  become  an  independent  freeholder,  he 
cannot  make  a  yard  of  coarse  cloth  at  less  than  one  dollar  and 
a  half,  whilst  a  foreign  manufacturer  can  furnish  one  of  the 
same  quality  for  one  dollar.  Peter  is  a  working  man,  who  gets 
his  living  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow,  and  whose  interest  it  is  to 
get  a  coat  in  exchange  for  as  little  labour  as  he  can,  or,  in  other 
words,  at  the  lowest  possible  price  he  can.  Paul  applies  to 
Congress  for  a  protecting  duty  to  prevent  Peter  from  buying 
his  coat  of  the  foreigner,  which  he  would  certainly  do  if  Paul 
did  not  stand  in  his  way.  Paul  tells  Congress,  that,  although 
he  can  make  the  cloth  at  one  dollar  and  a  half  per  yard,  yet 
that  50  cents  duty  on  the  foreign  article  will  not  be  enough,  be- 
cause the  foreigner  can  afford  to  pay  that  duty  and  undersell 
him,  seeing  that  a  dollar  and  a  half  gives  him  no  profit.  He 
says  he  ought  to  be  protected  by  a  duty  of  one  dollar  per  yard, 
which  is  agreed  to  by  Congress,  and  thus  he  is  enabled  to 
charge  Peter  two  dollars  for  a  yard  of  cloth,  worth  in  reality 
only  one  dollar.  Peter,  in  this  case,  is  robbed  of  a  dollar,  but 
Paul  pockets  only  half-a-dollar,  the  other  half  dollar  having 
been  lost  in  the  increased  cost  of  manufacturing,  just  as  much 
as  if  it  had  been  thrown  into  the  sea. 

That  this  loss  does  take  place  whenever  a  more  costly  mode 
of  producing  any  thing  is  resorted  to,  is  just  as  clear  as  that 
there  is  a  gain,  whenever  a  less  expensive  mode  of  producing 
is  resorted  to.  If  a  farmer  has  found  that  ploughing  his  fields, 
instead  of  digging  them,  is  a  gain,  he  would  not  deny  that  his 
being  compelled  to  lay  aside  the  plough  and  to  resort  to  spades, 
would  be  a  loss.  Would  not  any  one  consider  a  law,  that 
should  declare  that  all  power  looms  and  spinning  jennies  should 
be  abandoned,  and  that  nothing  but  the  spinning  wheel  and  old 


160  ESSAYS     ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

fashioned  hand  loonns  should  be  used,  as  decreeing  a  positive 
loss  ?  And  why  ?  Because  it  would  be  pursuing  a  more  labori- 
ous, and  consequently  a  more  expensive  process  of  arriving  at 
the  same  end.  It  matters  not  whether  the  cheaper  production 
be  carried  on  in  a  foreign  country  or  not.  Foreign  articles  can- 
not possibly  be  obtained  but  in  exchange  for  domestic  articles, 
and  the  consumption  of  foreign  goods  can  only  take  place  where 
an  equal  value  of  domestic  goods  has  been  exported.  There  is 
however  this  difference  between  them.  Under  the  free  trade 
system,  Peter  would  have  been  compelled  to  work  only  one  day 
for  a  yard  of  cloth,  (supposing  wages  at  a  dollar  a  day,)  but 
under  the  monkey  system,  he  would  be  compelled  to  work  two 
days,  and  he  would  very  probably  think  this  a  hardship.  "  No," 
says  Paul,  "  it  is  good  for  you  to  have  to  work  two  days  for  a 
coat,  instead  of  one,  for  thereby  twice  as  much  American  in- 
dustry is  kept  in  motion."  "  Granted,"  says  Peter,  "  but  I 
might  as  well  be  occupied  in  turning  a  grindstone  without  hav- 
ing any  thing  to  grind,  for  one  of  the  days,  under  the  monkey 
system,  if  the  result  of  the  two  days'  work  is  no  more  than  one 
would  be  under  the  free  trade  system."  It  is  thus  demonstrable, 
that,  under  the  American  System,  the  produce  of  the  labour  of 
the  whole  people,  is  not  as  great  as  it  would  be  under  the  free 
trade  system,  and  consequently  the  share  of  the  good  things  of 
this  life  which  falls  to  the  lot  of  each,  is  not  as  great.  Like  the 
monkeys  of  Exeter  'Change,  each  man,  woman,  and  child,  gets 
less  than  if  each  were  to  be  content  with  what  was  in  his  own 
pan,  and  let  his  neighbour's  alone. 


ESSAY     No.   LV. 


SEPTEMBER   1,   1830. 


Niles'  Register.  Fallacious  reasoning  of,  in  reference  to  the 
tariff  upon  the  price  of  certain  manufactures  of  iron  and 
steel. 

THE  following  article,  from  a  recent  number  of  Niles'  Re- 
gister, has  been  copied  into  several  tariff  papers : 

"  The  question — again — '  Are  protected  articles  any  cheaper 
than  the  British  would  have  sold  them  to  us,  if  we  had  not  pro- 
tected them  1 

"  A  pratical  man,  a  machine-maker,  informs  us,  that  cast 
steel  is  higher  than  it  was  twelve  years  ago,  and  blacksmiths' 
anvils  at  about  the  same  price  that  they  were  then,  because  the 
manufacture  has  not  been  sufficiently  protected.     That  cast 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  161 

steel  was  470  dollars  a  ton,  and  now  is  490:  that,  as  a  maker  of 
spindles,  he  probably  uses  more  cast  steel  than  any  other  per- 
son in  the  United  States,  but  would  be  exceedingly  glad  if  a 
duty  of  100  dollars  per  ton  were  laid  upon  the  material,  being  cer- 
tain that  its  domestic  manufacture  would  then  be  extensively 
carried  on,  and  the  price  lessened.  He  says,  further,  that  many 
spindles  are  smuggled,  and  mentions  a  case  in  which  a  hogs- 
head, invoiced  as  horse  combs,  or  curry-combs,  was  valued  at 
sixty  dollars  for  duty,  and  contained  one  thousand  dollars  worth 
of  spindles." 

This  article  is  one  of  those  matter  of  fact  productions,  sup- 
ported on  the  authority  of  what  are  called  practical  men,  by 
which  it  is  expected  to  cajole  the  American  people,  and  to 
make  them  sit  easy  under  a  weight  of  taxation,  which  no  iree 
nation  on  earth,  having  in  their  own  hands  the  legislative  pow- 
er, would  knowingly  submit  to.  The  matters  set  forth,  are  of 
such  a  nature,  that  none  but  practical  men,  who  are  familiar 
with  prices  current,  can  disprove.  They  are  beyond  the  reach 
of  persons  who  reside  in  the  country,  and  are  therefore  calculat- 
ed to  make  false  impressions,  for  the  want  of  other  evidence.  Si- 
tuated here  at  Washington,  without  that  access  to  a  hundred 
importing  m.crchants  which  we  could  have  in  a  few  minutes  if 
our  location  were  at  Philadelphia  or  New  York,  it  is  some- 
what difficult  to  meet  such  statements,  with  the  proper  sort  of 
testimony.  We  have  found  from  experience,  that  letters  cannot 
supply  the  place,  of  verbal  communications.  Merchants  have 
their  own  affairs  to  attend  to,  and  although  they  would  willing- 
ly give  any  information  that  was  asked,  if  sought  for  in  person, 
they  have  a  prodigious  aversion  to  write  letters,  unless  it  be  to 
a  correspondent  with  whom  they  expect  the  balance  of  trade 
will  be  in  their  favour,  which  is  not  the  case  in  dealing  with  us. 
To  supply  this  deficiency,  however,  in  some  sort,  we  shall  have 
recourse  to  such  means  as  are  within  our  reach. 

The  article  in  question  asserts,  that  cast  steel  is  higher  tiian  it 
was  twelve  years  ago  ;  that  it  was  then  470  dollars  per  ton, 
and  that  it  is  now  490.  Upon  looking  over  "  Canfield's  Ame- 
rican Argus"  of  July  19,  1830,  published  at  New  York,  which 
is  the  latest  number  of  that  price  current  we  have  seen,  we  find 
the  following  quotations  of  the  price  of  English  cast  steel  in  the 
principal  cities,  viz : 

New  York,         17|  to  19  cents  per  lb. 

Philadelphia,       17    to  20  do. 

Baltimore,  17    to  18f  do. 

Boston,  17    to  18f  do. 

Taking  18^  cents  as  the  average  price  per  pound,  the  cost 
of  a  ton  containing  2240  lbs.  would  be  $414  40,  and  therefore, 
if  the  price  twelve  years  ago  was  $470,  a  fact  of  which  we 
O* 


162  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

have  no  knowledge,  it  is  evident  that  cast  steel  has  fallen,  in- 
stead of  risen. 

That  steel  has  fallen  in  Europe  within  the  last  twelve  years, 
cannot  be  doubted  by  any  one,  who  has  observed  the  almost 
universal  decline  in  prices  which  has  taken  place  in  other  arti- 
cles. It  has  not,  it  is  true,  fallen  as  much  in  proportion  to  its 
price  as  iron,  but  it  must  have  fallen  at  least  as  much  per  ton 
as  the  iron  of  which  it  is  made  has  fallen,  for  there  is  not  the 
slightest  ground  for  supposing  that  the  art  of  making  steel  has 
gone'  backward  instead  of  forward,  and  that  it  is  now  more  ex- 
pensive to  convert  a  ton  of  iron  into  steel,  than  it  formerly  was. 
If,  however,  the  fact  were,  in  reality,  that  steel  is  now  higher 
in  this  country  than  it  was  twelve  years  ago,  a  part  of  the  in- 
creased price  might  be  accounted  for,  by  the  increased  duty  of 
ten  dollars  per  ton  imposed  by  the  tariff' of  1828;  the  effect  of 
W'hich  must  unquestionably  be,  to  make  steel  ten  dollars  per  ton 
dearer  than  it  would  have  been  if  that  increase  of  duty  had  not 
been  imposed.  As  to  the  wdsh  of  this  pj-actical  man,  that  a 
duty  of  $100  per  ton  should  be  laid  on  this  article,  instead  of 
the  present  duty  of  $30,  w^e  can  assure  him  that,  if  such  duty 
were  to  be  imposed,  it  would  increase  the  price  of  steel  to  the 
spindle  maker  80  or  90  dollars  per  ton,  (for  the  importing  mer- 
chant would  have  his  profit  on  the  increased  duty,  and  so  would 
the  retailer,)  and  that  where  one  dollar's  worth  of  spindles  are 
now  smuggled,  ten  would  be  smuggled.  If  the  competition  of 
all  the  steel  makers  in  Europe  combined,  where  iron  is  from  27 
to  $40  per  ton,  and  wages  half  the  price  they  are  in  this  coun- 
try, has  not  been  able  to  bring  down  the  price  of  steel  in  twelve 
years,  to  pretend  that  the  additional  competition  of  the  United 
States  could  effect  it,  would  be  just  as  rational  as  to  suppose 
that  tea  could  be  grown  in  hot-houses  sufficient  to  bring  down 
the  price  in  China. 

The  next  proposition  is,  that  blacksmiths^  anvils  are  about 
the  same  price  in  this  country  that  they  w^ere  twelve  years 
ago,  and  that  the  reason  why  there  has  not  been  a  fall  in  their 
price,  is,  according  to  the  evidence  of  this  practical  man,  that 
they  have  not  been  sufficiently  protected. 

The  first  part  of  this  proposition  is,  for  aught  we  know,  true 
enough.  We  presume  the  art  of  making  anvils  has  not,  in 
twelve  years,  advanced  so  greatly  as  to  abridge  the  manual  la- 
bour requisite  for  their  manufacture.  The  common  business  of 
a  blacksmith,  or  an  anvil-maker,  like  the  business  of  digging  a 
garden,  requires  perhaps  as  much  hard  w'ork  as  it  did  twelve 
years  ago,  but  it  certainly  cannot  require  any  more.  Now,  as 
iron  has  fallen  in  price  within  twelve  years,  nothing  can  be 
clearer,  than  that  the  price  of  anvils  must  have  fallen  at  the 
place  where  they  are  made.  The  fact  of  their  not  having  fallen 
in  this  country,  if  such  really  be  the  case,  can  be  accounted 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  163 

for  by  the  increase  of  the  duty  which  has  taken  place  within 
twelve  years,  and  ichich  has  been  22  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 
But  upon  what  authority,  it  may  be  asked,  do  we  assert  that 
such  increase  of  duty  has  taken  place  ?  We  reply,  upon  the  best 
authority  in  the  world — upon  official  documents.  By  the  ta- 
riff' law  of  1816,  the  duty  on  anvils  was  15  per  cent.  By  the 
law  of  1824  it  was  raised  to  2  cents  per  lb.  and  so  continues. 
By  the  last  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  it  appears 
that,  in  the  year  ending  on  the  30th  of  September,  1829,  there 
were  imported  699,836  pounds  of  anvils,  the  value  of  which 
was  ^37,873,  equal  to  5  cents  4  mills  per  lb.  Now,  a  duty  of 
2  cents  upon  what  cost  5  cents  4  mills,  is  37  per  cent.,  which  is 
an  advance  upon  the  old  duty  of  the  amount  we  have  express- 
ed; and,  consequently,  if  the  duty  had  remained  as  it  was 
twelve  years  ago,  anvils  would  have  been  22  per  cent,  cheaper 
than  they  were  then,  from  this  one  cause  alone. 


ESSAY    No.    LVI. 

SEPTEMBER   8,   1830. 


Mr.  Clay^s  Speech  at  Cincinnati.     Quotations  from,  and  re- 
marks upon. 

A  FULL  report  of  the  speech  delivered  by  Mr.  Clay,  on  the 
3d  of  August  last,  at  Cincinnati,  has  been  published,  containing 
in  detail  his  views  upon  the  several  prominent  questions  which 
now  divide  public  opinion.  It  occupies  seven  columns  and  a 
half  of  the  National  Journal,  and  may  be  looked  upon  as  a  con- 
fession of  the  political  faith  of  one  of  the  candidates  for  the 
Presidency. 

The  only  portion  of  it  which  we  propose  to  examine  at  this 
time,  is  a  part  of  what  relates  to  the  tariff"  question ;  and  as  the 
doctrines  advanced  by  Mr.  Clay  may  be  considered  as  support- 
ed by  the  strongest  reasoning  of  the  strongest  man  whom  the 
American  System  can  bring  into  the  field,  we  think  that  if  they 
can  be  shown  not  to  be  sustained,  the  laws  of  honourable  war- 
fare require  that  the  contest  should  be  abandoned,  and  that  the 
peace  and  harmony  of  the  country  should  no  longer  be  jeopar- 
dized, by  a  vain  and  futile  attempt  to  adhere  to  a  system  which 
is  altogether  founded  on  fallacies.  In  discussing  topics  of  such 
a  complex  nature  as  those  which  are  connected  with  the  re- 
strictive policy,  we  are  aware  of  the  great  labour  which  is  in- 
separable from'an  analytical  exposition.  A  single  fallacy,  utter- 
ed in  a  dozen  words,  may  require  whole  pages  to  refute,  inas- 


164  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

much  as  such  a  fallacy  may  be  the  conclusion  to  which  a  per- 
son lias  arrived,  alter  a  long  process  of  reasoning,  the  uu- 
soundness  of  which  can  only  be  ^hown  by  travelling  over  the 
whole  ground,  and  pointing  out,  step  by  step,  the  errors  assum- 
ed as  truths.  The  radical  ditlerence  between  the  reasoners  on 
the  free  trade  side,  and  those  on  the  restrictive  side,  consists  in 
this,  and  it  is  observable  to  any  one  who  will  take  the  trouble  to 
examine  it,  that  the  former  assume  no  position  which  they  do  not 
support  by  logical  proof:  the  latter  assume  as  truths,  the  very 
points  in  dispute,  and  then  draw  conclusions  from  them,  plau- 
sible in  appearance,  and  true  enough,  if  the  premises  from  ichich 
they  floired  were  true. 

Thus,  for  example,  in  the  speech  before  us,  Mr.  Clay  lays 
down  as  axioms,  the  following  positions : 

1.  That  the  great  object  of  the  American  System  is,  "  to  se- 
cure the  independence  of  our  country,  to  augment  its  wealth, 
and  to  diffuse  the  comforts  of  civilization  throughout  society." 

We,  on  the  other  hand,  deny  that  the  means  pursued  can  ac- 
complish either  one  of  these  ends,  for  the  simple  reason,  that  the 
American  System  restricts  the  productive  power  of  the  commu- 
nity, and  where  there  is  any  restriction  upon  industry,  such  as 
must  exist  where  any  one  man  is  compelled  by  law  to  follow  a 
business,  which  his  interest  would  not  lead  him  to  follow  with- 
out such  compulsion,  the  total  quantity  of  things  produced  must 
be  less.  The  independence  here  spoken  of,  is  that  which  is  en- 
joyed by  a  labouring  man,  who  is  obliged  to  work  ten  days, 
to  pay  for  an  American  made  coat,  when  he  could  purchase  a 
foreign  one  of  as  good  quality,  by  working  five  days  for  it.  The 
augmented  n-ea/th,  is  that  which  a  family  would  enjoy,  who  had 
to  pay  double  price  for  all  their  clothing  and  groceries  ;  and  the 
co?nforts  of  civilization,  would  resemble  those  experienced  by 
the  twelv^e  thousand  females  in  Philadelphia,  New  York,  and 
Baltimore,  described  by  Mr.  Carey  as  not  being  able  to  earn 
twelve  and  a  half  cents  a  day. 

2.  That  the  American  System  "  may  be  called  a  system  of 
real  reciprocity,  under  the  operation  of  which  one  citizen,  or  one 
part  of  the  country,  can  exchange  one  description  of  the  pro- 
duce of  labour,  with  another  citizen,  or  another  part  of  the  coun- 
try, for  a  different  description  of  the  produce  of  labour." 

And  pray,  would  not  the  free  trade  system,  be  as  much  a 
system  of  reciprocity  as  this?  Would  it  prevent  any  individual 
from  trading  with  another,  if  it  iras  his  interest  to  do  so  ?  Would 
it  throw  any  obstacles  in  the  way  of  an  interchange  of  commo- 
dities between  different  sections  of  the  country  ?  On  the  con- 
trary would  it  not  enlarge  the  sphere  of  reciprocity,  by  throw- 
ing it  open  to  the  competition  of  the  world  ?  But  perhaps  Mr. 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  165 

Clay  means,  that  if  duties  of  a  hundred  per  cent,  were  not  im- 
posed upon  cotton  fabrics,  the  people  of  the  manufacturing  states 
would  have  nothing  to  exchange  with  the  people  of  the  plant- 
ing states.  That  might  possibly  be,  but  in  the  name  of  common 
justice,  if  a  Carolina  planter  is  compelled  by  law  to  give  a 
Rhode  Island  weaver  a  bale  of  cotton  for  300  yards  of  cloth, 
when  a  foreigner  would  give  him  for  it  600  yards,  call  this  any 
thing  but  reciprocity,  if  a  reciprocity  of  benefits  is  intended. 
The  term  is  a  gross  misnomer,  and  is  not  at  all  adapted  to  ex- 
press the  operation  of  the  system,  which  is  neither  more  nor 
less  than  authorizing  Peter  to  rob  Paul  of  fifty  cents,  and  Paul 
to  rob  Peter  of  a  dollar,  which  the  latter  would  think  no  reci- 
procity at  all. 

3.  That  "  it  is  a  system  which  develops,  improves,  and  per- 
fects, the  capabilities  of  our  common  country,  and  enables  us 
to  avail  ourselves  of  all  the  resources  with  which  Providence 
has  blessed  us." 

So  far  from  this  being  the  case,  it  produces  the  opposite  ef- 
fects. It  may  indeed  turn  a  farmer  into  a  spinner,  and  take  him 
from  the  field,  where  he  breathes  an  atmosphere  of  purity,  free- 
dom, and  independence,  and  coop  him  up  in  a  workshop,  to  in- 
hale stagnant  air,  and  to  vote  the  ticket  put  into  his  hand  by  his 
employer.  It  may  convert  a  sailor  into  a  weaver,  and  thus  de- 
prive the  nation  of  one  of  the  main  pillars  of  its  defence  and 
glory,  and  civilization  of  one  of  the  great  instruments  of  its  con- 
veyance from  the  more  enlightened  to  the  less  enlightened  por- 
tions of  the  human  family.  But  what  development  of  capabili- 
ties would  this  display  l  The  business  of  a  farmer  and  a  mari- 
ner requires  quite  as  much  mental  capacity  as  that  of  a  spinner 
or  weaver,  and  so  far  from  the  moral  power  of  the  country  be- 
ing advanced,  by  the  conversion  into  manufacturers  of  those 
who  would  otherwise  embrace  agriculture  and  commerce,  we 
should  consider  it  decidedly  as  a  retrograde  movement.  As 
to  the  resources  with  which  Providence  has  blessed  us,  some  of 
the  principal  ones  are  these :  more  than  a  hundred  millions  of 
acres  of  land,  now  unoccupied,  (and  capable  of  sustaining  as 
many  people,)  which  can  be  bought  at  a  dollar  and  a  (luartcr 
an  acre;  unbounded  forests  of  ship  timber;  a  locality  on  the 
globe  which  gives  us  advantages  in  carrying  on  commerce  with 
the  West  Indies,  with  Mexico,  and  the  whole  of  South  Ameri- 
ca, which  Europe  does  not  enjoy;  and,  above  all,  an  enterpris- 
ing, venturesome,  industrious,  and  liberty- loving  people,  whose 
faculties  would  have  a  much  fairer  chance  of  development,  by 
traversing  the  remotest  regions  of  the  earth,  whitening  every 
sea  with  their  canvass,  and  bringing  home  in  exchange  for  the 
products  of  agriculture  and  of  the  natural  mannfactnres  of  the 
country,  of  which  there  are  many  that  need  not  the  aid  of  tax- 


166  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

ation  to  support  them,  the  productions  and  fabrics  of  foreign 
climes,  in  far  greater  abundance  than  they  could  have  been 
produced  at  home  by  the  application  of  the  same  quantity  of  la- 
bour. 

4.  That  "  to  the  labouring  classes  it  is  invaluable,  since  it  in- 
creases and  multiplies  the  demands  for  their  industry,  and  gives 
them  an  option  of  employments." 

Here  we  have  a  specimen  of  the  poisoned  honey.  A  position 
is  assumed  as  granted,  which,  if  true,  would  terminate  the  whole 
discussion.  It  is  upon  this  grand  delusion  that  the  whole  ques- 
tion turns.  It  is  to  prove,  that  the  doctrine  here  laid  down,  with 
all  the  authority  of  a  dogma,  is  the  very  reverse  of  true,  and  to 
save  nations  and  individuals  from  the  ruin  and  mischief  of  em- 
bracing it,  that  Adam  Smith,  Say,  Ricardo,  McCulloch,  and  a 
dozen  others,  have  written  their  able  and  irrefutable  treatises. 
And  yet,  with  all  the  lights  of  the  present  age,  with  the  testimo- 
ny against  this  doctrine  of  the  most  eminent  statesmen  of  this 
and  other  countries,  it  is  now  gravely  put  forth,  as  a  principle 
which  ought  not  lo  be  disputed,  that  the  imposing  of  restrictions 
upon  agriculture  and  commerce,  increases  the  demand  for  the 
industry  of  the  labouring  classes.  Now,  we  will  venture  to  as- 
sert, that  there  was  not  amongst-the  hearers  of  Mr.  Clay,  a  sin- 
gle working  man  or  farmer,  who,  if  the  following  questions  had 
been  presented  to  him,  would  not  have  given  answers  directly 
subversive  of  Mr.  Clay's  position. 

Is  it  an  advantage  to  you  to  pay  a  tax  of  three  cents  a  pound 
on  all  the  sugar  you  use  in  your  family,  merely  that  a  few  su- 
gar planters  in  Louisiana  may  be  enabled  to  ride  in  coaches  ? 

Is  it  an  advantage  to  you  that  you  should  have  to  pay  a  tax 
of  22|  cents  on  every  square  yard  of  flannel  or  green  baize  you 
may  require  for  the  clothing  of  yourself,  wife,  and  children,  in 
order  that  a  few  stockholders  in  manufacturing  establishments 
may  declare  large  dividends  ? 

Is  it  an  advantage  to  you,  that  you  should  have  to  pay  a  tax 
of  five  dollars  upon  every  ten  dollars  you  expend  in  the  purchase 
of  woollen  clothes,  merely  for  the  sake  of  enabling  others  to 
grow  rich,  or  even  of  saving  them  from  loss  ? 

Is  it  an  advantage  to  you,  to  pay  a  tax  of  $37  per  ton,  upon 
all  the  bar  iron  used  in  building  houses  and  steam-boats,  and  in 
agricultural  and  mechanics'  implements? 

Is  it  an  advantage  to  you,  to  pay,  as  you  do,  the  wholesale 
merchant's  profit  of  ten  per  cent,  and  the  retail  merchants'  pro- 
fit of  ten  or  twenty  per  cent.,  more,  upon  these  very  taxes,  they 
being  obliged,  when  they  purchase  the  goods,  to  pay  the  tax, 
which  is  always  included  in  the  price  1 

If  your  .answer  to  these  questions  be  in  the  negative,  that  is, 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  167 

if  it  be  no  advantage  for  you  to  be  thus  heavily  taxed,  must  it 
not  be  a  disadvantage  to  you  1 

Would  you  have  as  much  money  to  expend  in  other  objects, 
as  if  you  had  not  been  thus  taxed  1  and  if  not,  could  you  atibrd 
to  employ  the  industry  of  as  many  other  people,  as  if  the  tax 
had  remained  in  your  pocket  ? 

Now,  what  is  true  in  your  case,  is  true  in  every  body  else's. 
Taxation  takes  away  from  people  the  power  to  consume  the 
products  of  the  industry  of  others,  and  if  you  have  to  pay  fifty 
dollars  a  year  more  for  things,  than  you  would  have  to  pay  for 
them  if  you  were  not  taxed,  you  will  have  precisely  fifty  dollars 
less  to  expend  upon  your  own  comfort.  Away  then  with  the 
absurdity  of  representing  taxation  as  a  blessing. 

5.  That  •'  it  adds  power  and  strength  to  our  Union  by  new 
ties  of  interest,  blending  and  connecting  together  all  its  parts, 
and  creating  an  interest  with  each  in  the  prosperity  of  the 
other." 

We  think  this  position  completely  overturned,  by  the  facts  of 
the  case.  The  American  System,  so  far  from  adding  power 
and  strength  to  our  Union,  is  the  very  thing  that  is  at  this  mo- 
ment threatening  its  dissolution.  A  greater  unanimity  of  sen- 
timent has  never  prevailed  upon  any  one  question  in  this  coun- 
try, than  that  which  now  exists  in  six  or  seven  states,  in  regard 
to  this  matter.  There  is  indeed  a  wide  difference  of  opinion, 
as  to  the  mode  of  displaying  hostility  against  it,  but  we  appre- 
hend that  the  number  of  individuals  wlio  are  prepared  to  sub- 
mit to  it  as  t/ie  settled  policy  of  the  country,  is  a  mere  handful. 
To  speak  of  it,  therefore,  as  a  bond  of  strength  and  power,  is  a 
capital  error ;  and  to  suppose  that  it  ever  can  become  so,  is,  we 
apprehend,  a  fatal  delusion,  and  such  as  no  one  who  aspires  to 
be  at  the  head  of  this  government  ought  to  indulge  in. 

6.  That  "  it  secures  to  our  own  country,  whose  skill  and  en- 
terprise, properly  fostered  and  sustained,  cannot  be  surpassed, 
those  vast  profits  which  are  made  in  other  countries,  by  the 
operation  of  converting  the  raw  material  into  manufactured  ar- 
ticles." 

Had  we  been  complimenting  the  skill  and  enterprise  of  our 
country,  we  should  have  represented  them  as  not  being  surpass- 
ed by  those  of  any  other  nation,  and  as  being  capable  of  the  full- 
est development,  without  the  aid  of  the  miserable  crutch  called 
protection.  A  free  people  are  most  skiH'nl  and  enterprising, 
when  their  industry  is  left  unshackled,  and  although,  even  with 
the  cords  and  bandages  of  restrictions  about  them,  they  will  still 
be  prosperous,  in  the  same  manner  that  a  man,  after  the  loss  of 
one  of  his  fingers,  may  still  get  his  living  at  manual  labour,  yet 
their  prosperity  cannot  be  as  great  as  it  would  have  been,  had 


168  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

perfect  liberty  of  employment  been  guarantied  by  the  laws,  as 
it  was  by  the  constitution.  To  suppose,  therefore,  that  we  can, 
by  restrictive  laws,  secure  the  profits  of  manufactures,  that  re- 
sult in  other  countries  from  local  advantages  which  do  not  ex- 
ist here,  such  as  cheapness  of  labour,  the  low  price  of  iron  for 
machinery,  and  the  superabundance  of  capital,  is  not  less  chi- 
merical, than  to  suppose  that  we  could,  by  raising  tea  in  hot- 
houses, obtain  the  profits  which  the  Chinese  enjoy.  If  Mr.  Clay 
attaches  any  advantage  to  the  possessing  of  the  raw  material, 
we  can  assure  him,  that  bar  iron  is  in  England  less  than  $30 
per  ton ;  that  wool  is  cheaper  than  it  is  in  this  country,  where 
high  duties  are  imposed  on  purpose  to  make  it  dear;  and  that, 
with  respect  to  the  article  of  cotton,  the  Liverpool  price  is  very 
seldom  more  than  one  cent  per  pound  higher  than  the  Boston 
and  Philadelphia  price,  which,  upon  a  yard  of  muslin,  contain- 
ing one-fifth  of  a  pound,  is  an  almost  imperceptible  advantage. 

7.  That  "  it  naturalizes  and  creates  within  the  bosom  of  our 
country,  all  the  arts :  and  mixing  the  farmer,  manufacturer, 
mechanic,  artist,  and  those  engaged  in  other  vocations,  toge- 
ther, admits  of  those  mutual  exchanges  so  conducive  to  the 
prosperity  of  all  and  every  one,  free  from  the  perils  of  the  sea 
and  war." 

Every  person  who  will  reflect  upon  the  subject,  will  perceive 
that,  in  every  country  where  the  soil  is  capable  of  sustaining  the 
population  by  moderate  industry,  the  great  mass  of  products  con- 
sumed, must,  from  the  nature  of  things,  be  produced  at  home. 
The  existence,  therefore,  of  farmers,  mechanics,  manufacturers, 
artists,  and  those  who  are  engaged  in  other  pursuits,  is  the  na- 
tural state  of  society,  and  is  no  more  brought  about  by  the  pro- 
tecting system  than  the  existence  of  lawyers,  physicians,  and 
clergymen.  Wherever  there  is  land  occupied,  there  must  be 
farmers;  wherever  there  are  farmers,  there  must  be  mechanics, 
manufacturers,  artists,  merchants,  &c. ;  and  whether  there  are 
high  duties,  or  low  duties,  or  no  duties  at  all,  this  must  always 
be  the  case ;  with  this  difference,  however,  that  there  would 
be  more  of  them,  if  the  taxation  was  low,  than  if  it  was  high. 
Did  Mr.  Clay,  by  employing  this  language  to  "  the  working  men" 
of  Cincinnati,  intend  to  inculcate  the  idea,  that,  if  the  prices  of 
foreign  goods  were  to  be  reduced  by  the  lowering  of  the  duties 
to  half  their  present  prices,  the  carpenters,  bricklayers,  ma- 
sons, plasterers,  painters,  glaziers,  lime-burners,  stone-quarriers, 
brick-makers,  lumber  merchants,  paper  hangers,  cellar  diggers, 
carters,  and  others  employed  in  building  houses  would  be  injured 
in  their  business?  Or,  that  the  steam-boat  builders,  steam  engine 
makers,  boat  men,  canal  men,  wagoners,  dray  men,  and  other  i 
concerned  in  preparing  the  means  of  transporting  the  in- 
creased quantities  of  flour,  pork,  beef,  lard,  hams,  butter,  whis- 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  169 

key,  and  other  productions  of  agriculture,  which  would  be  call- 
ed for  by  foreign  countries  if  we  icould  adinil  their  productions 
at  low  rates  of  duty,  would  be  losers  by  the  reduction  of  prices  1 
Or,  that  the  manufacturers  and  tradesmen  of  that  thriving  and 
beautiful  city,  emphatically  styled  the  Queen  of  the  West,  the 
brewers,  bakers,  book-binders,  blacksmiths,  barbers,  coopers, 
confectioners,  curriers,  cabinet  makers,  chairmakers,  copper- 
smiths, coach  makers,  coach  painters,  coach  trimmers,  dyers, 
distillers,  gunsmiths,  grave-diggers,  harness  makers,  hatters, 
innkeepers,  joiners,  livery  stable  keepers,  labourers,  milkmen, 
milliners,  mantua-makers,  mill-wrights,  printers,  pavers,  pump- 
makers,  paper-carriers,  potters,  shoemakers,  soap-boilers,  sad- 
dlers, stage-drivers,  tailors,  tobacconists,  tallow  chandlers,  tin- 
men, tanners,  upholsterers,  wheelrights,  wood-sawyers,  watch- 
makers, &c.,  would  .be  injured  in  their  occupations  ?  Or,  that 
any  of  these  people,  or  that  any  of  the  farmers  of  Ohio,  or  the 
owners  of  property  in  Cincinnati,  would  be  injured  by  the  adop- 
tion of  a  policy,  the  tendency  of  which  would  inevitably  be,  to 
encourage  emigration  to  the  West  ?  If  so,  w'e  apprehend  his 
hearers  must  have  thought  their  understandings  greatly  under- 
valued. The  people  of  Cincinnati  are  too  shrev\^d  not  to  be  able 
to  perceive,  that  emigration  to  the  West  is  the  great  source  of 
prosperity  to  that  city,  and  that,  consequently,  any  policy  which 
has  a  tendency  to  keep  population  in  the  Eastern  States,  is  a 
positive  injury  to  them.  But  Mr.  Clay  caps  the  climax  of  his 
long  string  of  fallacies  with  the  following  one,  which  is  not  less 
palpable  than  the  rest. 

"  All  this  it  effects  whilst  it  nourishes  and  leaves  a  fair  scope 
to  foreign  trade." 

Who  can  read  this  without  perceiving  that  it  assumes  as 
granted  the  whole  point  in  dispute  ?  It  is  impossible  that  any     • 
one  branch  of  industry  can   be  supported  by  a  tax  upon  the     / 
other  branches,  without  depressing  the  latter  to  an  extent  equal    / 
at  least  to  the  support  given  to  the  former.     It  is  impossible  to    i 
sustain  manufactures  by  a  tax  upon  agriculture  and  commerce,   | 
and  leave  either  of  the  latter  as  prosperous  as  it  would  other-    t 
wise  be  ;  and  no  "  fair  scope"  can  be  predicated  of  any  pursuit,    ', 
unless  under  a  state  of  perfect  freedom. 

But  although  we  cannot  compliment  Mr.  Clay  for  expressing 
the  views  of  an  enlightened  statesmen  upon  these  points,  we  will 
give  him  credit  for  consistency.  He  does  not,  like  many  of  the 
tariff  party,  indulge  in  acrimonious  language  against  the  British 
for  their  corn  laws.  He  is  an  advocate  of  that  system,  and  if 
he  were  a  member  of  the  British  Parliament,  he  would  advo- 
cate as  strenuously  the  soundness  of  the  policy  of  compelling  an 
Englishman  to  pay  double  price  for  a  loaf  of  bread,  as  he  does 
that  of  making  one  of  his  own  countrymen  pay  double  price  for 
a  coat  or  a  pound  of  sugar.     This  is  his  language : 


170  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

"  Suppose  we  were  a  nation  that  clad  ourselves,  and  made 
all  the  implements  necessary  to  civilization,  but  did  not  pro- 
duce our  own  bread,  which  we  bought  from  foreign  countries, 
although  our  own  was  capable  of  producing  it,  under  the  influ- 
ence of  suitable  laws  of  protection,  ought  not  such  laws  to  be 
enacted  ?  The  case  supposed  is  not  essentially  diflerent  from  the 
real  state  of  things  which  led  to  the  adoption  of  the  American 
System," 

At  present  we  shall  content  ourselves  with  a  single  further 
quotation,  which  immediately  followed  the  above  : 

"  That  system  has  had  a  wonderful  success.  It  has  com- 
pletely falsified  all  the  predictions  of  its  opponents.  It  has  in- 
creased the  wealth,  and  power,  and  population,  of  the  nation. 
It  has  diminished  the  price  of  articles  of  consumption,  and  has 
placed  them  within  the  reach  of  a  far  greater  number  of  people 
than  could  have  found  means  to  command  them,  if  they  had 
been  manufactured  abroad  instead  of  at  home"  !  !  ! 

Mr.  J\iles  insists  upon  it  that  castor  oil  has  fallen  in  price  in 
consequence  of  the  protecting  duty  imposed  upon  the  foreign 
article,  and  as  proof  incontestible  of  this  assertion,  he  shows 
that  the  price  in  1819  was  $5  per  gallon,  and  that  it  is  now 
$1.25.  He  does  not,  however,  show,  which  is  quite  essential  to 
his  argument,  that  if  the  present  duty  of  forty  cents  per  gallon 
were  taken  off",  castor  oil  would  not  be  lower  than  it  is.  Cot- 
ton goods,  woollen  goods,  sugar,  cofibe,  tea,  hardware,  iron, 
and  almost  every  thing  else,  are  cheaper  now  than  they  were 
in  1816,  and  if  the  American  System  did  not  stand  in  the  way, 
they  would  be  much  cheaper  still. 


ESSAY    No.    LVII. 


SEPTEMBER  8,    1830. 


The  settled  policy  doctrine  in  continuation.  Estimate  of  the 
value  of  capital  vested  in  the  protected  manufactures.  It 
would  be  better  far  the  country  that  this  capital  should  be 
sunk,  than  that  the  -protective  policy  should  be  adhered  to. 
Probable  maximum  of  loss  on  this  capital,  if  all  duties  were 
abolished. 

IN  continuation  of  the  remarks  contained  in  Essay  No.  53,  we 
shall  now  proceed  to  examine  the  doctrine  relied  upon  by  many 
of  our  most  conspicuous  politicians,  as  justificatory  of  their 
support  of  the  tariff  system,  namely,  that  after  millions  of  dol- 
lars have  been  invested  in  manufactures,  to  withdraw  the  pro- 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  171 

tection  now  afforded  to  them,  would  be  unwise,  and  impolitic, 
considered  even  as  a  pure  question  of  political  economy. 

In  this  position,  there  is  no  doubt  a  plausibility,  which  at  first 
sight  may  be  apt  to  allure;  but  we  flatter  ourselves  that  we 
shall  be  able  to  present  such  an  analysis  of  it  as  will  com- 
pletely show,  that  those  who  have  taken  refuge  in  it,  from  the 
scorching  rays  of  truth,  have  taken  refuge  in  a  fallacy.  The 
proposition,  in  a  simple  form,  is  this :  "  In  the  United  States, 
there  is  a  capital  invested  in  the  cotton  and  woollen  manufac- 
tures of,  say,  jifty  millions  of  dollars.  These  manufactures  are 
sustained  by  protecting  duties,  varying,  upon  cottons,  from  25 
to  175  per  cent,  and  upon  woollens  from  45  to  255  per  cent., 
averaging  more  than  100  per  cent.,  but  which  we  will  suppose, 
for  the  sake  of  argument,  to  be  only  50  per  cent,  beyond  such 
duty  as  would  be  called  for,  for  purposes  of  revenue,  which  is  a 
very  low  estimate.  It  is  for  the  interest  of  the  nation,  consi- 
dered as  one  family,"  says  the  theory,  "  that  the  consumers  of 
cotton  and  woollen  fabrics  should  continue  to  pay  an  increased 
price  of  fifty  per  cent,  for  those  articles,  rather  than  that  the 
capital  invested  should  be  left  to  take  its  chance,  under  a  mode- 
rate revenue  duty." 

A  moment's  reflection  will  convince  any  one,  that  the  truth 
or  fallacy  of  this  position  depends  entirely  upon  the  proportion 
which  the  annual  tax  bears  to  the  annual  value  of  the  capital 
invested.  The  annual  value  of  the  capital  of  fiftA^  millions  of 
dollars,  at  six  per  cent,  per  annum,  is  three  millions  of  dollars ; 
at  ten  per  cent,  five  millions.  For  a  perpetual  annual  income 
of  five  millions  of  dollars,  well  secured,  the  owners  of  the  manufac- 
turing capital  referred  to,  would  very  readily  consent  to  its  com- 
plete annihilation,  either  by  burning  it,  or  sinking  it  in  the 
ocean,  and  that  sum  may  therefore  be  considered  as  the  maxi- 
mum of  its  value  to  the  individuals  who  own  it,  and,  conse- 
quently, to  the  nation.  No  capital,  in  the  present  state  of  wealth, 
can,  in  this  country,  be  estimated  as  producing  more  than  ten 
per  cent,  per  annum,  whether  employed  in  agriculture,  com- 
merce, or  manufactures,  and  hence  that  sum  may  be  fairly  as- 
sumed as  the  full  value  to  the  nation.  Now,  if  the  annual  tax 
imposed  upon  the  industry  of  the  country,  for  the  purpose  of 
enabling  the  proprietors  of  the  manufacturing  capital  to  procure 
five  millions  of  dollars  out  of  it  per  annum,  can  be  shown  to  ex- 
ceed five  millions  of  dollars,  it  will  be  very  evident,  that  it  would 
be  better  for  the  nation  that  the  whole  capital  should  be  sunk, 
rather  than  that  the  tarifi"  system  should  be  persevered  in.  That 
there  may  be  no  doubt  of  this  position,  we  will  illustrate  this  by 
a  familiar  case  or  two. 

A  new  road  is  constructed,  to  enable  the  farmers  of  a  parti- 
cular neighbourhood  to  convey  their  produce  to  market  more 
cheaply  than  by  the  old  road,  at  an  expense  of  one  hundred 


172  ESSAYS     ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

dollars  to  each.  The  profit  which  these  farmers  could  have  de- 
rived from  employing  their  money  in  some  other  way,  we  will 
suppose  to  be  ten  per  cent,  per  annum,  and  consequently  the 
original  expenditure  of  the  capital  involved  a  perpetual  tax  up- 
on the  industry  of  each  of  the  farmers  of  ten  dollars  a  year. 
Their  motive  for  making  this  expenditure,  was  to  diminish,  as 
we  have  said,  the  expenses  of  transportation,  and  the  road  cer- 
tainly would  not  have  been  constructed,  had  it  not  been  clear  to 
them,  that  the  diminution  would  have  been  greater  per  annum, 
than  the  amount,  of  ten  dollars.  This  amount,  we  will  suppose, 
to  have  been  fifteen  or  twenty  dollars,  that  is  to  say,  each 
farmer,  by  sinking  a  capital  of  one  hundred  dollars,  equal  to 
ten  dollars  per  annum,  has  enabled  himself  to  save  fifteen  or 
twenty  dollars  per  annum,  by  the  reduction  in  transportation. 

Now,  whilst  this  road  is  in  full  operation,  a  plan  is  started 
for  constructing  a  canal,  which  passes  by  the  doors  of  these 
farmers,  and  so  reduces  the  expenses  of  transportation,  that,  in- 
stead of  saving  fifteen  or  twenty  dollars  to  each,  it  will  save 
fifty.  The  theory  of  the  vested  interest  men  is,  that  it  is  better 
for  the  farmers  to  stick  to  the  road.  The  theory  of  the  free 
trade  doctrine  is,  that  it  is  better  for  the  farmers,  and  the  whole 
community,  even  if  the  former  have  to  contribute  another  hun- 
dred dollars  a-piece  towards  the  canal,  to  abandon  the  road  and 
avail  themselves  of  the  advantages  held  out  by  the  canal ;  for, 
by  so  doing,  they  will  put  into  their  pockets  an  annual  saving 
greater  than  the  annual  value  of  the  two  capitals  invested. 

Again.  A  weaver  has  a  loom  worth  fifty  dollars,  by  which 
he  can  weave  twenty  yards  of  cloth  in  a  day.  A  new  invention 
appears  by  w-hich  double  the  quantity  can  be  woven.  It  is  bet- 
ter, says  the  theory  of  the  American  System,  that  this  weaver 
should  Stick  to  the  old  loom,  than  that  he  should  purchase  the 
new  one,  because  otherwise  he  would  sink  the  capital  vested  in 
the  former. 

These  examples  are  sufficient  to  show,  that  the  question  is  a 
simple  one  of  profit  and  loss.  If  it  appear  that  the  annual  ex- 
pected gain  or  saving  by  the  new  process,  will  not  be  equal  to 
the  annual  value  of  the  capitals  vested,  in  that  case,  it  will  be 
clearly  beneficial  to  adhere  to  the  old  system.  Suppose,  for  in- 
stance, a  canal  should  be  constructed  at  a  cost  of  a  million  of 
dollars,  which  would,  according  to  our  estimate  of  the  value  of 
capita],  involve  an  annual  sacrifice  of  a  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars, or  ten  per  cent.  Suppose  then  a  rail  road  w^ere  projected 
to  run  parallel  to  it,  to  cost  an  equal  sum,  and  consequently  to 
be  attended  by  an  equal  annual  sacrifice.  Now,  unless  it  was 
clear,  that  the  annual  saving  to  the  community  by  the  diminish- 
ed rates  of  transportation,  should  be  equal  at  least  to  two  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars,  it  would  be  bad  policy  to  construct  the 
rail  road.     And  so,  on  the  other  hand,  it  would  be  good  policy 


OF     FREE     TRADE.  173 

to  construct  it,  if  tiie  annual  saving  should  exceed  that  sunn, 
even  though  the  canal  should  be  abandoned,  and  be  sutiercd  to 
become  dry. 

The  only  point,  therefore,  to  be  ascertained,  in  order  to  settle 
the  matter  under  discussion  is,  whether  the  American  people,  as 
a  whole,  sustain  a  greater  annual  loss  by  the  taxation  imposed 
upon  them,  for  the  support  of  the  cotton  and  woollen  manufac- 
ture, than  the  annual  loss  they  would  sustain  by  the  annihila- 
tion of  a  capital  of  fifty  millions  of  dollars  ;  or,  in  other  words, 
is  the  increased  price  of  the  cotton  and  woollen  goods  consum- 
ed in  the  country,  occasioned  by  the  high  duties,  greater  than 
five  millions  of  dollars  per  annum  1 

We  apprehend  that  few  persons  would  be  at  a  loss  for  an  an- 
swer to  this  question.  The  population  of  the  United  States  is 
twelve  millions.  If  the  increased  price  of  the  cotton  and  woollen 
goods  occasioned  by  the  high  duties,  was  only  equal  to  fifty 
cents  per  annum  each,  the  tax  would  be  six  millions,  and,  ac- 
cording to  our  demonstration,  it  would  be  better  for  the  nation, 
rather  than  continue  such  a  tax,  to  see  the  fifty  millions  of  ca- 
pital invested  in  the  manufacture  of  those  articles  annihilated. 
But  fifty  cents  per  head  on  the  whole  population,  is  a  very  small 
portion  of  the  tax  really  imposed  for  the  support  of  the  cotton 
and  woollen  manufactures.  We  should  think  it  much  more 
likely  to  amount  to  two  or  three  dollars  per  head ;  but  of  this, 
any  person  may  judge  for  himself,  it  being  sufficient  for  us,  that, 
in  the  low  estimate  of  fifty  cents  per  head,  we  have  found  ample 
foundation  for  the  establishment  of  our  position. 

Now  it  will  be  remarked,  that,  in  this  view  of  the  subject,  we 
have  supposed  the  whole  fifty  millions  of  capital  to  be  annihilat- 
ed. But  could  such  annihilation  take  place  under  any  reduction 
of  duties,  even  under  an  abolition  of  the  whole  1  Clearly  not, 
for. 

First:  Of  this  fifty  millions  of  dollars,  probably  three-fourths, 
at  this  moment,  of  what  is  left,  consists  of  goods  on  hand,  raw 
materials,  bills  receiveable,  book  debts,  and  cash,  none  of  which 
would  be  entirely  lost,  under  such  a  gradual  reduction  of  the 
duties  as  would  be  readily  acceded  to  by  the  friends  of  free 
trade,  if  the  reduction  were  to  be  certain  and  ample. 

Secondly.  The  remaining  one-fourth,  consisting  of  buildings 
and  machinery,  would  in  part  be  applicable  to  some  other  pur- 
poses, and  would  not  therefore  lose  all  its  value  ;  and 

Thirdly.  From  the  very  nature  of  things,  a  part  of  the  cot- 
ton and  woollen  manufacture  now  carried  on  in  this  country, 
would  be  carried  on  if  the  duties  were  reduced  to  15  per  cent., 
at  which  they  were  before  the  protecting  system  began,  as  they 
were  when  the  duties  were  but  5  per  cent.,  and  as  they  would 
be  if  there  M'ere  no  duties  at  all. 

The  clamour  therefore  raised  against  a  reduction  of  the  duties 
p# 


174  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

as  destructive  of  fifty  millions  of  capital,  is  a  false  hue  and  cry. 
We  do  not  believe  the  loss  would  be  ten.  We  do  not,  how- 
ever mean  by  this  to  say,  that  those  who  made  up  the  original 
capitals  of  fifty  millions  would  get  back  forty.  A  part  of  the 
fifty  has  probably  been  sunk  long  ago,  and  has  therefore  been 
irrecoverably  lost.  That  loss  cannot  be  chargeable  to  an  act 
hereafter  to  take  place,  and  therefore,  in  estimating  a  loss  to 
result  from  a  reduction  of  duties,  a  loss  already  sustained  must 
not  be  taken  into  the  account. 


ESSAY    No.    LVIII. 

OCTOBER  6,    1830. 


Fallacy  of  the  doctrine,  that  it  is  for  the  public  interest  that  le- 
gislative protection  should  be  extended  to  every  thing  that  can 
be  abundantly  produced  in  the  country,  illustrated  by  refer- 
ence to  Jigs. 

IT  is  a  prominent  doctrine  of  the  advocates  of  the  Peter  and 
Paul  System,  that  every  article  which  can  be  abundantly  pro- 
duced in  the  country,  should  be  encouraged  by  legislative  pro- 
tection ;  and  our  readers  will  recollect,  that  certain  farmers  in 
Pennsylvania  last  winter  petitioned  Congress  to  impose  pro- 
tecting duties  upon  a  number  of  articles  which  had  eluded  the 
searching  powers  of  the  committee  of  Congress  that  reported 
the  last  tariff  act.  We  recollect,  however,  one  article,  which 
has  not,  we  believe,  heretofore  drawn  the  attention  of  any  of 
the  friends  of  protection,  and  for  their  benefit  we  will  mention 
it.  It  is  the  delicious  article  called ^0-5.  Thej'^grow  in  the  vi- 
cinity of  Washington,  in  sufficient  abundance  to  be  sold  in  the 
market  at  12^  to  6^  cents  per  dozen,  a  fact  of  which  we  had 
repeated  proof  in  the  month  of  September.  Now,  as  figs  can 
undoubtedly  be  raised  in  the  district  of  Columbia,  to  the  extent 
of  1,220,266  pounds,  the  quantity  imported  last  year,  as  that 
quantity  would  only  be  a  trifle  more  than  forty  pounds  to  the 
acre,  allowing  two  pounds  of  green  to  be  equal  to  one  of  dry,  why 
not  fall  to  work  at  once,  prohibit  the  importation  of  figs  from 
France,  Spain,  and  Turkey,  and  thus  save  to  the  country,  the 
specie  w^hich  is  sent  abroad  to  pay  for  this  foreign  luxury? 
That  nothing  is  wanted  to  insure  a  home  supply  equal  to  the 
domestic  demand,  but  adequate  protection,  cannot  be  question- 
ed by  any  one  who  will  reflect  upon  the  subject,  and  there  is 
no  more  reason  why  figs  should  not  be  protected,  than  raccoons 
or  castor  oil. 

Nay,  according  to  the  theory  of  the  restrictionists,  why  could 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  175 

we  not  raise  figs  for  exportation  ?  The  inevitable  effect  of  iiigh 
duties,  tiiey  say,  is  to  lower  prices ;  and  they  even  tell  us,  that 
the  more  efficient  the  protection,  that  is,  the  higher  the  duties 
are,  the  greater  will  be  the  fall.  Well,  now,  assuming  this  prin- 
ciple as  correct,  the  true  policy  would  be  to  put  on  a  duty  that 
would  certainly  break  up  the  importation.  To  accomplish  this, 
we  think  a  duty  of  two  or  three  thousand  per  cent,  would  be 
sulHcient.  Dry  figs  cost  in  Smyrna  about  3  or  4  cents  a  pound. 
The  present  duty  is  3  cents,  which  is  a  hundred  per  cent.,  or 
near  it.  An  increase  of  this  duty  to  a  dollar  a  pound  would 
effectually  stop  their  importation,  and  so  elevate  their  price, ^br 
a  season,  as  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  fig  region  would  have  the 
entire  command  of  the  domestic  market,  which,  at  a  dollar  a 
pound,  would  not  call  for  more  than  a  few  hundred  pounds,  suffi- 
cient to  supply  the  demand  for  roasting  to  put  on  swelled  faces, 
and  for  furnishing  Mr.  Rand  with  animalculae  to  exhibit  in  his 
solar  microscope. 

But  this  season,  say  the  protection  folks,  would  be  short. 
The  domestic  competition  would  uUhnately  reduce  the  price 
below  3  or  4  cents,  and  we  should  then  be  able  to  export  figs 
in  competition  with  the  French,  Spaniards,  and  Turks.  As 
proof  of  this,  they  bring  forward  the  case  of  coarse  domestic 
cottons  and  they  say,  that  the  mere  fact  of  their  being  export- 
ed, is  proof  that  we  can  undersell  the  British  in  foreign  markets. 
Now,  if  this  be  the  sort  of  proof  which  satisfies  the  restrictionists, 
why  do  they  not  back  their  faith  in  this  position,  by  proposing 
to  reduce  a  part  of  the  duty  on  coarse  cotton  goods  ?  For  surely, 
if  they  can  undersell  the  British  in  foreign  markets,  where  their 
fabrics  cannot  be  sent  without  incurring  the  expenses  of  freight, 
insurance,  and  commissions,  why  can  they  not  undersell  them 
in  our  own  market,  where  they  meet  the  British  subject  to  these 
charges,  whilst  they  themselves  are  exempt  from  them  ?  Will 
it  be  believed  ten  years  hence,  that  men  calling  themselves 
statesmen,  have  relied  upon  such  arguments  as  these  to  give 
them  fame  and  advancement  to  high  stations  ?  We  cannot  be- 
lieve it  possible,  and  were  it  not  from  a  conviction  that  the  stu- 
pefaction which  has  so  long  prevailed,  is  gradually  wearing 
away,  we  should  not  have  patience  calmly  to  discuss  a  matter 
so  self-evident  in  its  nature. 


176  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 


ESSAY    No.    LIX. 


OCTOBER    13,    1830. 


Importance  of  the  science  of  Political  Economy  to  an  American 
lawyer  or  -politician. 

WE  have,  in  this  journal,  endeavoured  to  impress  upon  the 
minds  of  our  readers,  the  importance  of  the  study  of  political 
economy,  as  a  branch  of  knowledge  absolutely  indispensable  for 
every  one  who  aspires  to  political  stations,  and  who  would  na- 
turally be  expected  to  be  conversant  with  the  principles  of  con- 
stitutional law.  We  have  also  suggested,  that,  although  in 
Europe,  where  the  powers  of  government  are  not  restricted  by 
specific  limitations,  and  where  the  right  to  favour  one  branch 
of  industry  at  the  expense  of  another  is  not  denied,  there  is  no 
necessary  connexion  between  political  economy  and  the  study 
of  law,  yet  that,  under  our  form  of  government,  the  case  is 
widely  different.  Thus,  in  England,  a  man  may  be  an  etTicient 
"political  economist  without  being  a  lawyer,  or  he  may  be  a 
good  lawyer  without  being  a  proficient  in  political  economy, 
and  may,  as  such,  occupy  the  most  elevated  seat  on  the  bench 
of  justice.  In  this  country,  on  the  other  hand,  the  highest  ju- 
dicial stations  can  only  be  properly  and  faithfully  filled  by  those 
who  are  skilled  in  political  economy,  and  for  the  simple  reason 
that  those  who  are  not  so  skilled  cannot  have  the  confidence  of 
the  whole  community  in  reference  to  their  competency  to  de- 
cide upon  the  constitutionality  of  laws,  with  the  tendency  and 
nature  of  which,  as  regards  national  and  individual  wealth,  they 
are  unacquainted. 

Every  one  must  know,  that  the  imputation  of  infallibility  to 
any  set  of  individuals,  let  them  be  whom  they  may,  is  absurd. 
Men  are  at  best  but  men,  and  as  such,  are  liable  to  err ;  and 
the  idea,  therefore,  that  there  ever  can  exist  any  tribunal  which 
can  be  capable  of  deciding  without  the  possibility  of  being  wrong, 
must  be  founded  upon  a  belief  in  the  perfection  of  human  nature, 
which  experience  has  not  established.  The  most  that  can  be 
expected,  therefore,  in  any  court  of  justice,  is  an  approximation 
to  infallibility,  and  even  that  cannot  be  looked  for  except  where 
the  judges  are  wholly  uninfluenced  by  the  prominent  political 
questions  which  occupy  the  public  mind.  The  body  politic  has 
within  it  a  moving  principle  which  directs  the  general  mass. 
This  may  be  called  public  opinion,  and  when  powerfully  excited 
it  moves  on  like  a  mighty  current,  drawing  within  its  influence 
all  the  individuals  of  the  community  amongst  which  it  flows. 
Even  judges  are  not  exempt  from  its  power,  and,  say  what  we 
will,  a  chiming  in  with  the  received  opinions  of  the  great  mass 
of  the  people  amongst  whom  one  lives,  is,  in  a  greater  or  less 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  177 

degree,  to  be  looked  for  in  judicial,  as  well  as  in  legislative,  and 
executive  transactions.  But  our  present  purpose  is  not  to  touch 
upon  this  ground  of  fallibility.  It  is  to  show  that  no  one  is 
qualified  to  sit  in  judgment  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States,  upon  any  case  involving  a  constitutional 
doubt,  the  decision  of  which  in  one  particular  way  might  do 
mischief  to  the  nation,  unless  he  possesses  a  complete  knowledge 
of  the  effects  which  such  decision  would  necessarily  produce. 
For,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose,  that  a  judge,  in  making  up  his 
opinion  upon  a  doubtful  power,  would  endeavour  to  inquire  in- 
to the  motives  which  induced  the  grantors  to  confer  it.  If  those 
motives  were  clearly  shown  to  be,  the  welfare  and  benefit  of 
the  grantors,  he  would  undoubtedly  construe  the  power  in  the 
manner,  ichich,  in  his  opinioii,  would  accomplish  the  end  pro- 
posed. Let  us  suppose  a  case.  Suppose  a  law  to  be  passed  by 
Congress,  appropriating  twelve  millions  of  dollars  per  annum  to 
the  construction  of  roads  and  canals,  taking  for  their  authority 
one  or  all  of  the  clauses  in  the  constitution  which  declare  that 
the  Congress  shall  have  power, 

"  To  establish  post  offices  and  post  roads," 

"  To  declare  war," 

"  To  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations,  and  among 
the  several  states," 

"  To  pay  the  debts  and  provide  for  the  common  defence  and 
general  w^elfare  of  the  United  States,"  and 

"  To  make  all  laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for 
carrying  into  execution  the  foregoing  powers,  and  all  other 
powers  vested  by  this  Constitution  in  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  or  in  any  department  or  officer  thereof." 

Suppose  it  were  contended,  by  a  large  portion  of  the  grant- 
ors, that  neither  of  the  above  clauses  authorized  either  express- 
ly or  by  fair  implication,  the  right  to  expend  the  public  money 
for  the  objects  proposed ;  and  suppose  further,  that  such  a  law 
was  brought  before  a  court,  for  a  decision  upon  its  constitution- 
ahty,  the  opinion  of  whose  members  should  be,  that  roads  and 
canals  were  eminently  beneficial  to  the  whole  nation,  and  that 
the  more  of  them  there  were  the  better,  and  that  there  could  be 
no  sinking  of  capital  in  their  construction,  but  only  a  mere 
change  of  hands  by  the  circulation  of  the  money — Avould  such 
a  court,  let  me  ask,  be  competent  to  decide  the  case  to  the  sa- 
tisfaction of  any  man  whose  mind  is  at  all  tinctured  whh  the 
true  doctrine  of  political  science  ? 

Again,  suppose  a  law  to  be  passed,  under  the  clause  of  the 
Constitution  which  declares  that  Congress  shall  have  power 
"  to  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts,  and  excises,"  the 
manifest  design  of  which  law  should  be  to  take  out  of  the  pock- 
ets of  people  engaged  in  agriculture  and  commerce,  twelve 
millions  of  dollars  per  annum,  and  put  them,  w'ithout  an  equiva- 


178  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

lent,  into  the  pockets  of  people  engaged  in  manufactures.  Sup- 
pose, further,  that  the  right  to  authorize  this  plunder  was  dis- 
puted by  many  who  constituted  a  portion  of  the  body  that  con- 
ferred the  power  relied  upon  as  authority,  before  a  tribunal 
which  conscientiously  believed  that  the  complaints  of  the  j)/?m- 
derees  were  groundless,  that  so  far  from  being  injured,  they  were 
greatly  benefited ;  that  they  did  not  understand  their  interests 
half  so  well  as  the  majority  of  Congress  did  ;  that  high  duties 
make  goods  cheap  instead  of  dear,  and  that  the  shutting  out  of 
foreign  goods  increases  the  export  of  domestic  products — what 
sort  of  a  decision,  think  you,  would  result  upon  the  constitution- 
ality of  the  law  ?  Such  a  one,  we  apprehend,  as  no  friend  of  the 
freedom  of  trade  could  reconcile  with  that  high  reputation  for 
ability  and  political  knowledge,  which  have  been  so  deserved- 
ly ascribed  to  the  distinguished  body  that  framed  the  Consti- 
tution. 


ESSAY     No.   LX. 


OCTOBER    13,    1830. 


The  doctrine  of  exchange.     N'ominal  advance  of  six  per  cent, 
above  par,  shewn  to  be  below  par. 

IT  is  said  that  the  freemasons  have  a  method  of  discovering 
who  is  and  who  is  not  of  the  craft,  by  very  slight  indications. 
The  same  is  true  of  the  fraternity  of  political  economists,  who 
can  discover  in  five  minutes'  conversation  whether  a  man  un- 
derstands the  subject  or  not.  One  of  the  surest  evidences  of  an 
entire  M'ant  of  acquaintance  with  the  principles  of  the  science, 
is,  talking  about  the  balance  of  trade  being  against  the  country, 
and  draining  the  specie  from  it.  Whenever  a  reasoner  ad- 
vances that  doctrine,  depend  upon  it  he  knows  nothing  of  the 
matter  of  which  he  professes  to  be  the  expounder,  and  we  ad- 
vise all  students  whose  minds  have  been  imbued  with  that  he- 
resy, to  wash  themselves  free  from  it,  at  the  very  outset.  True  it 
is,  that  the  number  of  those  who  still  hold  on  to  it,  is  very  limit- 
ed, compared  to  what  it  formerly  was.  The  main  pillars  of 
the  theory  were,  the  current  rate  of  exchange  on  England,  and 
the  custom-house  returns  of  the  value  of  imports  and  exports. 
The  former  of  these  has  been  utterly  demolished  by  the  report 
of  General  Smith,  made  to  the  Senate  last  winter,  and  by  the 
report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  on  the  relative  value 
of  gold  and  silver.  The  latter  pillar  is  fast  tumbling  to  pieces, 
and  we  are  quite  sure,  that  if  the  restrictive  system  were  not  in- 
timately allied  to  the  fortunes  of  some  political  leaders,  it  would 


OF     FREE     TRADE,  179 

very  soon  go  by  the  board,  and  be  abandoned  by  every  man  of 
sense  in  the  country. 

As  to  the  doctrine  of  exchange  upon  England,  it  has  novv^  been 
conclusively  demonstrated,  that  a  Spanish  dollar  is  not  the 
equivalent  of  4s.  6d.  sterling,  as  is  commonly  supposed,  but  has, 
for  many  years,  been  only  equal  to  about  4s.  Id,  to  4s.  2d.  So 
that  when  we  make  a  calculation  upon  4s.  Gd.  as  the  par,  we 
assume  an  erroneous  starting  point,  and  consequently  exchange 
may  appear  to  be  above  par,  when  it  is  in  reality  below  par,  as 
is  the  case  at  this  moment,  as  we  shall  show. 

The  nominal  rate  of  a  bill  on  London,  payable  in  gold,  which 
is  the  currency  in  which  all  our  merchants  contract  to  pay  for 
what  they  purchase,  is  at  this  moment  six  per  cent,  premium. 
This  nominal  rate,  it  will  be  observed,  does  not  imply  that  106 
ounces  of  pure  gold  must  be  here  paid  for  a  bill  on  London  that 
will  there  command  100  ounces  of  the  same,  but  it  simply 
means  that,  according  to  the  mercantile  custom  of  computing 
exchange,  by  which  a  Spanish  dollar  is  erroneously  supposed 
to  be  capable  of  discharging  a  debt  of  4s.  6d.,  it  would  require 
106  Spanish  dollars  to  pay  a  debt  for  100  times  4s.  6d.  As 
soon,  however,  as  the  calculation  is  stripped  of  its  fallacy,  the 
true  state  of  the  case  appears.  It  is  perceived  that  the  debt  is 
due  in  gold,  and  that  the  tender  of  payment  is  made  in  silver, 
which  the  Englishman  no  more  agreed  to  take  than  he  did  to 
take  cotton  or  tobacco,  and  consequently,  that,  in  estimating  the 
real  rate  of  exchange,  the  true  value  of  the  silver  dollar  in  gold 
currency  must  be  ascertained,  that  being  the  true  and  07ihj  par 
for  the  time  being. 

Now,  by  this  rule,  let  us  examine  a  particular  case.  A  mer- 
chant imports  an  invoice  of  goods  amounting  to  £100  sterling. 
The  Spanish  dollar  is  worth,  in  London,  4s.  2d.,  being  at  the  rate 
of  about  4s.  lOd.  per  ounce.  If  he  send  dollars  to  London  to 
pay  this  debt,  it  will  require  480,  and  not  444.44,  according  to 
the  common  erroneous  mode  of  computation.  Unless,  therefore, 
he  is  compelled  to  pa}''  for  his  bill  more  than  480  dollars,  it  can- 
not be  said  to  cost  a  premium.  Now,  what  is  the  fact  at  the 
present  moment  ?  If  a  merchant  buy  a  bill  at  sight  upon  Lon- 
don at  6  per  cent.,  nominal  premium,  the  broker  will  make  out 
his  account  thus : 

Tommy  Nokes  to  John  A.  Stiles,       .        Dr. 

For  Peter,  Paul,  &  Go's  bill  on  John  Bull,  Esq.  Lon- 
don, at  sight,  for  £100  sterling.  -  $444  44 
Advance  6  per  cent.            -         26  67 


471    11 
Brokerage  i  per  cent.        -  1   18 

$472  29 


180  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

So  that  it  costs  tlie  purchaser  for  his  bill  $7.71  less  than  the 
number  of  dollars  he  had  contracted  to  pay,  which,  instead  of 
being  6  per  cent,  against  him,  is,  in  reality,  more  than  1^  per 
cent,  in  his  favour. 

The  real  truth  is,  that  the  variation  of  exchange  from  the  true 
par,  between  two  great  trading  communities,  one  way  or  the 
other,  can  never,  for  any  length  of  time,  be  greater  than  the  ex- 
pense of  transporting  the  coin  from  one  country  to  another. 
Two  per  cent,  may  be  looked  upon  as  constituting  the  utmost 
limits  of  fluctuation  between  this  country  and  Europe,  in  times 
of  peace;  for,  as  the  freight,  insurance,  commissions,  brokerage, 
&c.,  united,  do  not  exceed  that  amount,  no  merchant  who  has 
money  to  pay,  or  to  receive,  will  agree  to  lose  more.  It  is  now 
fortunate  for  the  country,  that  documents  have  been  placed  be- 
fore the  public,  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  sufficient  to 
settle  this  matter  for  ever.  It  has  been  shown  that,  although  be- 
tween the  years  1811  and  1817,  nominal  exchange  in  some  of 
our  cities,  upon  London,  ranged  from  20  per  cent,  helow  par,  to 
20  per  cent,  above  par,  yet  that  during  that  whole  period,  the 
real  exchange,  measuring  gold  against  gold,  or  silver  against 
silver,  was  never  more  than  three  per  cent.  The  nominal  va- 
riation arose  partly  from  the  same  cause  as  that  which  now  ope- 
rates, to  wit,  a  change  in  the  relative  value  of  gold  and  silver 
in  the  markets  of  the  trading  world,  from  the  proportion  of  one 
to  fifteen  to  that  of  about  one  to  sixteen,  but  chiefly  from  another 
cause,  which  we  shall  briefly  explain.  Prior  to  1814,  the  cur- 
rency of  the  United  States  was  gold  and  silver,  and  bank  pa- 
per exchangeable  for  gold  or  silver,  whilst  that  of  Great  Britain, 
for  many  years,  was  inconvertible  paper,  greatly  depreciated. 
During  that  time  nominal  exchange  was  helow  par,  because  a 
silver  dollar  of  United  States'  currency  was  worth  more 
than  4s.  6d.  of  British  paper  currency.  In  August,  1814, 
all  the  banks  in  the  United  States,  south  of  New  England, 
stopped  payment,  in  consequence  of  which  the  currency  of 
this  country  became  depreciated,  whilst  that  of  Great  Britain 
happened,  at  the  same  time,  to  become  meliorated.  Nominal 
exchange  then  rose  above  par,  because  4s.  6d.  of  British  paper 
currency  was  less  depreciated  than  a  paper  dollar  of  our  cur- 
rency. In  1817,  our  currency  was  restored  to  a  sound  silver 
state,  and  in  1821,  that  of  Great  Britain  was  restored  to  a  sound 
gold  state,  and  since  the  latter  period,  the  nominal  premium 
on  exchange  between  the  two  countries  has  been  occasioned 
solely  by  the  change  in  the  relative  value  of  gold  and  silver, 
which  has  been  operative  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  for  fifteen 
years,  controlled  by  the  operations  of  commerce,  which  may 
influence,  as  we  have  stated,  the  exchange,  to  the  extent  of  two 
per  cent.,  one  way  or  the  other. 

To  all  this  reasoning,  we  are  prepared  to  hear  it  urged,  by  the 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  181 

skimmers  in  political  economy,  "  This  is  theorxj — let  us  have 
facts.'"  Well  gentlemen,  you  shall  have  facts.  The  first  we 
will  give  you  is  the  following : 

From  the  New  York  Gazette  of  Sept.  29. 

"  We  understand,  from  an  intelligent  merchant,  that  specie  is 
now  on  its  way  from  London  to  the  United  States,  and  daily 
we  remark  arrivals  of  specie  from  almost  every  part  of  the 
world— a  strong  evidence  that  the  United  States  stands  now  a 
creditor  to  all  the  leading  marts  of  commerce." 

Will  this  answer  your  purpose  ?  If  not,  perhaps  the  following 
will : 

From  the  National  Intelligencer  of  Oct.  6. 

"  All  the  World  in  Debt  to  the  United  States. — The  packet- 
ship  Robert  Edwards,  from  London,  has  on  board  about 
$50,000  in  specie.  This  is  a  profitless  remittance,  but  the  best 
one  by  which  the  merchants  could  get  back  the  proceeds  of 
their  shipments.  Exchange  on  the  United  States  is  therefore 
so  much  above  par,  in  London,  that  the  excess  is  sutlicient  to 
pay  all  charges  of  freight,  insurance,  &c.,  on  the  transmission 
of  specie. — Journal  of  Commerce.^' 

Now,  as  this  money  was  shipped  at  London  in  August,  in 
consequence  of  orders,  written  no  doubt  by  the  American  own- 
ers, in  July,  it  is  only  necessary  for  us  to  know  what  was  the 
rate  of  exchange  on  London,  in  this  country,  at  the  time  those 
orders  were  wi'itten,  to  put  the  seal  for  ever  upon  this  disputed 
question,  and  to  settle  it,  so  conclusively,  that  again  to  attempt 
to  refute  it  would  be  as  silly  as  to  enter  into  a  serious  argument 
to  prove  that  two  and  two  are  four. 

We  happen  to  have  before  us  "  Canfield's  American  Argus," 
of  19th  July,  1830,  containing  prices  current  of  stocks  and 
exchange,  in  which  bills  on  London  at  that  period  are  quoted 
as  follows : 

At  New  York,         6|  to  7  per  cent,  premium. 

Philadelphia,       6  to  G|-  do. 

Baltimore,  5|  to  6  do. 

Boston,  6.}  to  G^  do. 

Now,  we  would  ask,  would  any  merchant  of  common  sense, 
if  he  could  sell  a  bill  at  6  per  cent,  premium,  be  so  unmindful 
of  his  interest,  or  so  ignorant  of  his  business,  as  to  prefer  to  im- 
port the  money  due  to  him  in  England,  at  the  certain  loss  of 
that  premium,  besides  the  expenses  of  freight,  insurance,  and 
commissions  incurred  by  the  transmission  of  the  coin  ?  No  one, 
however  obtuse  his  intellects,  will  pretend  to  assert  it,  and  we 
do  really  think  that  the  balance-of-trade-men  have  now,  by  this 
draining  of  Great  Britain  of  her  specie,  m.et  with  a  blow,  in 
their  favourite  theory  of  exchange,  which  they  cannot  survive. 

Q 


182  ESSAYS     ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 


ESSAY    No.    LXI. 

OCTOBER   20,    1830. 

The  doctrine  of  American  cotton  fabrics  meeting  successfully 
the  British  cotton  fabrics  in  foreign  markets,  sheic7i  to  be  fal- 
lacious, as  regards  exports  to  Buenos  Ayres. 

WE  have  upon  various  occasions  exposed  the  absurdity  of 
the  doctrine  that  our  manufacturers  can  meet  successfully  the 
British,  in  foreign  markets,  with  those  articles  which  they  find 
it  necessary  to  protect  by  high  duties,  for  fear  that  they  shall 
be  beaten  out  of  the  home  market.  We  have  urged,  that  if  a 
foreigner  can  make  cotton  fabrics  so  much  cheaper  than  our 
manufacturers  can  make  them,  that  he  can  afford  to  send  them 
to  this  country,  to  pay  freight,  insurance,  and  commissions  upon 
them,  and  a  moderate  duty  besides,  and  undersell  us  at  our  own 
factory  doors,  it  is  preposterous  to  suppose  that  we  can  our- 
selves incur  all  those  expenses,  and  meet  him  successfully  in  fo- 
reign markets.  And  yet  there  are  men  with  minds  of  such  ob- 
liquity, that  they  cannot  see  a  truth  so  self-evident  as  this.  They 
insist  upon  it,  that  the  mere  fact  of  our  exporting  cotton  fa- 
brics, is  proof  that  we  carry  on  a  successful  competition,  and 
seem  to  forget  that  we  also  export  to  the  value  of  sixteen  mil- 
lions of  dollars  per  annum  of  foreign  productions,  saddled  with 
the  expenses  of  importation,  and  yet  no  one  would  contend  that, 
wdth  those  articles,  we  can  meet  the  producers  of  them  abroad 
upon  terms  of  perfect  equality.  The  simple  fact  is,  that  our 
commerce  with  the  West  Indies  and  South  America,  is  an  ir- 
regular hap-hazard  trade,  founded  upon  the  maxim,  "  hit  or 
miss — luck  's  all."  The  markets  with  which  we  trade  are  fluc- 
tuating, sometimes  high  and  sometimes  low,  and  the  conse- 
quence is,  that  a  good  voyage  may  sometimes  be  made  with 
articles  that  are  in  demand,  even  though  they  cost  in  this  coun- 
try higher  than  they  could  be  bought  for  in  Europe.  Our  suc- 
cess in  this  trade  is  due  to  oar  geographical  position,  more  than 
to  any  thing  else. 

But  the  question  is  not,  do  we  export  cotton  goods  ?  but,  do 
we  export  them  to  a  profit?  As  to  this  point,  we  are  inclined  to 
believe  that,  if  we  could  get  a  sight  of  the  accounts  of  sales  of 
what  go  to  South  America,  nine  out  of  ten  invoices  would  ex- 
hibit what  the  merchants  call  a  Flemish  account.  This,  how- 
ever, is  difficult  to  prove.  Merchants  do  not  like  to  tell  their 
losses.  When  they  do,  nobody  believes  thein,  but  every  one 
supposes  it  to  be  a  mantxuvre  to  deter  him  from  shipping  to  a 
profitable  market ;  and  besides  all  this,  the  currencies  of  Brazil, 
Monte  Video,  Buenos  Ayres,  Chili,  and  perhaps  Peru,  are  so 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  183 

variously  depreciated,  that  there  is  a  sort  of  mystification  about 
prices,  that  renders  it  pretty  difficult  to  come  at  the  truth.  For- 
tunately, however,  we  are  enabled  to  throw  some  light  on  this 
subject.  We  have  now  before  us  a  letter  recently  received, 
addressed  to  us  by  an  American  gentleman  at  Buenos  Ayres, 
which  we  think  will  open  the  eyes  of  some  of  those  who  have 
suffered  themselves  to  be  blinded,  upon  this  subject  of  exports. 
It  is  as  follows : 

"  Buenos  Ayres,  May  30,  1830. 

"  There  is  now  on  hand  in  this  place  probably  near  one  thou- 
sand bales  of  American  cottons,  some  of  which  have  been  here 
since  December  and  January  last,  and  most  of  the  holders  would 
gladly  sell  them  for  any  thing  near  cost  and  charges,  for  the 
market  is  so  completely  stocked  with  British  goods  of  a  Uke  de- 
scription, that  there  is  no  probable  chanceof  any  speedy  improve- 
ment in  price.  The  importation  of  brown  cottons,  from  the  16th 
Sept.,  1828,  to  the  1st  of  Nov.,  1829,  was  estimated  at  1,683,669 
yards  of  American,  and  808,618  1-2  yards  of  British,  since 
when,  the  importation  of  the  latter  has  been  proportionably  much 
greater,  and  are  now  sold  at  such  prices  as  almost  to  exclude  the 
American  (without  greater  sacrifice)  from  the  market.  It  is  said 
that  the  loss  to  the  manufacturers  is  very  great,  and  that  the  com- 
mission houses  here  being  in  advance,  they  are  obliged  to  be  sold 
for  whatever  they  will  bring ;  but  if  this  is  the  case,  it  is  certain- 
ly strange  policy  that  they  should  be  continually  manufiictur- 
ed,  and  sent  here,  when  a  certain  loss  must  be  calculated  upon. 
It  is  therefore,  I  think,  fair  to  suppose,  that  something  that  we  are 
not  aware  of,  gives  to  the  manufacturer  a  sufficient  advantage 
to  cover  this  ostensible  loss.  However,  be  it  as  it  may,  the  eflect 
is  equally  ruinous  to  the  holder  of  cottons  from  the  United 
vStates.  The  civil  discords  which  now  so  unhappily  distract 
this  country,  destroying  in  a  measure  the  intercourse  with  the 
interior,  shut  up  what  was  heretofore  a  very  considerable  mar- 
ket for  these  articles :  nor  is  there  now  any  prospect  of  a  speedy 
arrangement  of  these  differences ;  for  the  leaders  of  the  various 
factions,  seeking  rather  their  own  aggrandizement,  than  the  pub- 
Jic  good,  know  no  distinction  between  individual  hatred  and 
political  diflerence,  and  have  plunged  the  country  in  an  anarchy, 
than  which  any  regular  government  would  be  preferable ;  for 
the  excesses  committed  by  the  different  factions  are  such  as 
would  not  be  credited  at  home,  where  we  have  not  yet  learned 
personally  to  hate  the  man  who  may  difler  from  us  in  his  poli- 
tical views." 

From  an  intelligent  merchant  largely  concerned  in  the  Pacific 
trade,  we  last  year  learned,  that  the  shippers  of  cotton  goods  to 
South  America  were  chiefly  the  manufacturers  themselves,  and, 
if  we  recollect  aright,  we  were  also  told  that  the  chief  part  of  them 
were  shipped  by  the  manufacturers  of  the  middle  States,  who, 


184  '  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

finding  that  they  were  undersold  in  the  domestic  market  hy  the 
JVew  England  manvjacturers,  had  resorted  to  shipments  as  the 
only  mode  of  getting  clear  of  their  surplus. 

To  those  who  are  captivated  by  the  sound  of  numbers,  the 
quantity  of  domestic  cottons  imported  into  Buenos  Ayres  in  thir- 
teen months  and  a  half,  at  a  period  immediately  following  a  war 
of  two  years  and  upwards,  during  which  time  the  river  Plate  was 
blockaded,  will  no  doubt  appear  to  be  very  great,  and  they  will 
be  disposed  to  exclaim,  "  Long  live  the  American  System."  To 
those  however,  who  are  accustomed  to  analyze,  and  to  examine 
things  before  they  swallow  them,  it  will  be  sufiicient  to  say,  that 
1,683, 669  yards  of  cotton  goods  were  worth  at  Providence,  (R. 
I.)  according  to  a  late  statement  published  in  the  papers,  headed 
"  Importation  of  cotton  into  Providence,"  nine  cents  per  yard, 
that  is  $151,530.21;  that  this  quantity,  as  appears  from  the 
same  statement,  would  require  less  than  1200  bales  of  raw  cot- 
ton to  make  it,  and,  finally,  that  to  export  the  whole  quantity 
and  to  import  the  proceeds  of  the  sales,  would  not  require  more 
than  the  bulk  of  one  ship. 


ESSAY    No.    LXII. 

OCTOBER  20,    1830. 


The  West  India  trade.     Benefits  resulting  from  its  being  open- 
ed with  the  United  States. 

ONE  of  the  most  unhappy  results  flowing  from  the  extent  to 
which  party  and  personal  politics  have  been  carried  in  this 
country,  for  several  years  past,  is  that  of  wholly  destroying  the 
nationality  of  our  public  acts,  and  of  making  them  all  subservi- 
ent to  party  ends.  There  is  now  in  the  United  States  no  con- 
ceivable measure,  which  the  present  or  any  other  administra- 
tion could  adopt,  which  would  not  be  liable  to  be  made  the 
theme  of  party  abuse  and  misrepresentation,  and  which  would 
not  be  viewed  as  praiseworthy  or  otherwise,  according  as  it 
happened  to  militate  against,  or  favour,  the  elevation  of  parti- 
cular men.  To  this  shrine  of  personal  politics  all  other  conside- 
rations are  sacrificed,  and  matters  which  concern  the  interests 
and  prosperity,  nay,  the  very  honour  of  the  country,  are  held  as 
nothing  in  comparison  with  the  advancement  to  power  of  par- 
ticular individuals. 

In  nothing  has  the  truth  of  these  remarks  been  more  fully 
confirmed,  than  in  the  many  editorial  comments  which  have  re- 
cently appeared  throughout  the  country,  in  reference  to  the  late 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  185 

negotiations  concerning  the  British  colonial  trade.  One  set  of 
papers  cry  it  uj),  as  if  it  was  to  eventuate  in  the  aggrandize- 
ment of  the  whole  community;  whilst  another  set  cry  it  down, 
as  not  worth  possessing.  Both  are  in  error,  because  each  has 
formed  its  opinion  by  looking  at  it  through  the  medium  of  party 
prejudice,  and  a  proper  view  of  the  case  would  probably  show 
that  the  truth  lies  between.  Now,  whether  the  restoration  of 
this  branch  of  commerce  be  due  to  one  administration  or  ano- 
ther, the  character  of  the  benefits,  whatever  they  may  be,  which 
the  nation  is  to  enjoy,  is  precisely  the  same  ;  and  we  have  not 
been  a  little  surprised  to  observe,  in  some  commercial  news- 
papers, how  possible  it  is  for  editors  to  become  so  absorbed  in 
personal  politics,  as  to  lose  sight  of  the  ordinary  and  well  esta- 
blished principles  of  trade,  and  to  endeavour  to  destroy  the  me- 
rit of  an  act,  merely  because  accomplished  by  an  administration 
to  which  they  are  opposed. 

The  question  whether  the  restoration  of  our  trade  with  the 
British  colonies  will  be  advantageous  or  not,  is  a  simple  one  of 
political  economy.  It  depends  altogether  upon  the  fact,  wheth- 
er by  enjoying  the  direct  trade  we  can  or  cannot  export  to  those 
colonies  more  of  the  articles  which  they  derive  from  the  United 
States  than  we  now  export ;  and  whether  we  can  or  cannot  ex- 
port other  articles  which  are  now  excluded  on  account  of  the 
expenses  and  difficulties  attendant  upon  a  circuitous  voyage. 
To  determine  the  first  point,  we  think,  will  not  be  difficult.  The 
freight,  insurance,  commissions,  and  other  charges  incident  to 
a  shipment  of  flour  from  the  United  States  direct  to  Jamaica, 
for  example,  will  not  be  as  great  as  if  the  shipment  was  made 
indirectly,  through  the  island  of  St.  Thomas  or  St.  Bartholo- 
mew, or  even  the  neighbouring  island  of  Hayti  or  Cuba.  This 
position  cannot  be  disputed.  Nor  can  it  be  disputed  that  this 
reduction  of  the  expenses  of  shipment  will  enable  the  inhabitants 
of  Jamaica  to  get  their  flour  cheaper  than  if  the  indirect  chan- 
nel alone  was  accessible  to  them.  Now,  as  it  is  a  principle 
supported  as  well  by  the  lights  of  experience  as  the  lights  of 
science,  that  the  consumption  of  conmiodities  increases  when 
the  price  declines,  and  we  challenge  any  one  to  produce  a  sin- 
gle exception  to  the  principle,  it  follows  as  a  necessary  conse- 
quence, all  other  circmnstances  equal,  that  our  exports  to  the 
British  colonies  must  increase,  by  the  opening  of  the  direct 
trade. 

In  regard  to  the  second  point,  there  exists  no  more  difficulty 
than  in  the  former.  A  great  portion  of  the  commerce  which 
has  always  existed  between  this  country  and  the  West  Indies, 
is  in  the  exportation  of  live  stock  and  lumber.  These  commo- 
dities will  not  bear  the  expenses  of  trans-shipment.  Live  stock 
requires  large  supplies  of  hay  and  other  provisions  to  be  carried 
with  them,  and   as  they  cannot  be  stowed  away  in  bulk,  but 


186  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

take  up  a  great  deal  of  room,  the  freight  upon  them,  or  rather 
their  passage  money,  is  very  heavy.  Besides  this,  the  exporters 
of  horses,  mules,  oxen,  sheep,  and  hogs,  oftentimes  meet  with 
difficulties  against  which  they  cannot  protect  themselves  by  in- 
surance. Sometimes  they  fall  in  with  calms,  which  last  so  long 
as  to  starve  out  their  passengers,  and  so  frequent  have  been 
these  calamities,  that  they  have  been  of  sufficient  notoriety  to 
give  the  name  of  the  horse  latitudes  to  that  region  which  is  lo- 
cated between  the  variable  and  trade  winds.  As  to  lumber, 
any  one  who  has  ever  had  to  pay  the  expense  of  hauling  a  load 
of  boards  or  scantling  for  twenty  miles,  can  easily  perceive  how 
prohibitory  a  double  freight  would  be. 

During  the  six  years  preceding  the  30th  September,  1826, 
(the  ports  were  closed  on  1st  of  December  of  that  year)  the  ex- 
ports from  the  United  States,  to  the  British  West  Indies,  were 
as  follows,  viz : 

1821  ....     -     $264,632 

1822  ....     -     449,601 

1823  .....    1,617,845 

1824  .....    1,750,703 

1825  -      -      -      -     -    1,635,574 

1826  .....    2,078,871 


$7,797,226 
Of  these  exports,  the  following  articles,  viz.,  staves,  and  head- 
ing, shingles,  boards,  plank,  hewn  timber,  lumber,  masts  and 
spars,  naval  stores,  horned  cattle,  hogs,  horses,  mules,  and 
sheep,  constituted  near  a  fourth,  and  in  the  year  1826,  amount- 
ed to  more  than  half  a  million  of  dollars  in  value,  having  gra- 
dually increased  to  that  extent,  from  $66,135,  the  value  export- 
ed in  1822. 

To  ascertain  the  precise  value  of  such  a  trade,  is  not,  it  is 
true,  a  very  easy  matter.  No  doubt  a  great  portion  of  the  ar- 
ticles which,  prior  to  1827,  w^ere  exported  directly  to  the  Bri- 
tish West  Indies,  have  since  reached  them  indirectly,  through 
other  channels,  but  nothing  can  be  clearer  than  that  the  quan 
tity  thus  circuitously  shipped  must  have  been  less  than  the 
quantity  w-hich  would  have  gone,  had  a  direct  intercourse  ex- 
isted. No  man  who  reflects  a  moment  on  the  subject  can  fail 
seeing  that  this  is  so ;  and  it  is  therefore  folly  for  people  to  try 
to  deceive  themselves  by  delusive  theories.  Every  direct  trada 
by  which  the  expenses  of  shipment  are  diminished,  enables  the 
consumers  of  our  agricultural  products  to  buy  more  than  they 
would  buy,  if  no  such  diminution  had  taken  place,  and  no  pre- 
tended set  of  fads  can  controvert  this  theory.  The  question, 
as  it  affects  navigation,  may  be  somewhat  different,  but  the 
principle  upon  which  we  reason  is  equally  applicable  to  that 
branch  of  industry.     To  convey  directly  the  articles  which  are 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  187 

now  conveyed  indirectly,  will  require  an  equal  extent  of  ton- 
nage, and  there  will  then  be  a  gain  of  the  tonnage  required  for 
the  conveyance  of  the  articles  which  are  now  excluded,  and  all 
the  additional  products  which  will  be  brought  into  demand  by 
the  fall  in  the  price,  owing  to  the  diminished  freight. 

But  it  is  said  that  British  vessels  will  interfere  with  Ameri- 
can vessels.  If  the  former  can  be  navigated  cheaper  than  the 
latter,  this  will  undoubtedly  be  the  case.  And  suppose  it  were 
so.  Are  agriculture  and  commerce  to  be  sacrificed  to  the  ton- 
nage interest  ?  As  the  consistent  and  uncompromising  opponents 
of  all  legalized  monopolies — whether  manufacturing,  agricultu- 
ral, commercial  or  navigating — we  should  hope  not.  But,  upon 
this  score,  we  have  little  to  dread.  We  can  underwork  the  Bri- 
tish, and  need  not  fear  their  competition.  Our  trade  with  their 
European  dominions  establishes  fully  this  fact.  British  and 
American  vessels  are  admitted  upon  the  same  terms  into  the 
ports  of  the  United  States,  and  Great  Britain,  and  yet  we  hear 
no  complaints  from  our  merchants  that  the  British  ships  have  a 
preference.  At  all  events,  if  they  w^ere  to  come  in  for  a  share, 
it  is  not  likely  that  that  share  would  be  equal  to  the  increased 
demand  for  tonnage  arising  from  the  increased  exports. 

Before  leaving  this  subject,  there  is  one  circumstance  to  which 
we  wish  to  call  the  reader's  attention.  It  is  the  gradual  in- 
crease in  the  annual  amount  of  our  exports  to  the  British  West 
Indies,  exhibited  by  the  above  statement.  It  shows  that  com- 
merce is  cautious  in  its  movements,  and,  like  a  river,  can  only 
work  its  way  into  a  new  channel  by  degrees.  Had  the  trade 
not  been  interrupted,  it  is  possible  that  it  might  have  been  car- 
ried, during  the  present  year,  to  the  extent  of  three  millions  of 
dollars. 


ESSAY     No.   LXIII. 


OCTOBER  27.  1830. 


TJie  export  of  cotton  fabrics  from  the  United  States  no  proof  that 
we  can  undersell  the  British  in  foreign  markets.  Exports  to 
Turkey,  and  other  ports  on  the  J\Iediterranean. 

THE  following  article  is  copied  from  the  Boston  Daily  Ad- 
vertiser : 

"  Cotton  Manufactures. — In  the  third  volume  of  the  Encyclo- 
paedia Americana  is  an  interesting  article,  giving  a  history  of 
the  cotton  manufacture  in  England,  and  in  this  country.  An 
opinion  is  there  expressed,  that  the  whole  process  of  the  manu- 
facture is  performed  to  as  great  advantage  in  this  country  as  in 


188  ESSAYS     ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

any  part  of  ihe  world ;  and  that  particularly  for  descriptions  of 
a  coarse  fabric,  the  advantages  of  possessing  tlie  raw  material, 
and  of  water  power  for  moving  the  machinery,  with  the  prox- 
imity of  the  South  American  market,  more  than  counterbalance 
the  disadvantages  of  the  higher  cost  of  machinery,  and  of  some 
branches  of  labour.  This  view  of  the  subject  has  been  confirm- 
ed by  the  success  of  recent  shipments  to  foreign  markets." 

There  is  no  class  of  citizens  who  would  more  rejoice,  than 
the  friends  of  free  trade,  if  the  opinion  above  advanced  by  the 
writer  in  the  Encyclopnedia  had  been  "  confirmed,"  as  the  edi- 
tor of  the  Advertiser  supposes  it  to  have  been ;  for,  in  such 
case,  the  cotton  manufacturers  would  voluntarily  come  forward 
and  propose  a  reduction  of  the  duty,  and  thus  remove  one  of  the 
chief  causes  of  dissatisfaction  against  the  tariff.  But,  we  appre- 
hend that  the  Boston  Advertiser  has  not  examined  the  subject 
any  closer  than  the  Encyclopnedia  has  done  it,  and  has  adopted 
the  idea,  that  we  can  manufacture  as  cheap  as  the  British,  from 
the  simple  fact  that  domestic  cottons  are  exported  to  foreign  coun- 
tries. That  this  is  no  evidence  whatever  on  the  subject,  is  annu- 
ally proved  from  the  Reports  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
which  show,  that  foreign  merchandise  is  imported  from  Great 
Britain,  France,  Holland,  Russia,  Sweden,  Germany,  and  other 
countries,  to  the  amount  of  upwards  of  twenty  millions  of  dol- 
lars, and  although  saddled  with  the  expenses  of  freight  from  the 
country  where  they  are  produced,  with  insurance,  profits,  com- 
missions, and  other  charges,  is  exported  to  other  foreign  coun- 
tries, where  it  comes  in  competition  with  the  same  articles  from 
the  producing  countries.  The  real  fact  is,  that  a  great  part  of 
the  commerce  carried  on  by  our  merchants,  as  we  have  said 
upon  a  former  occasion,  is  in  the  nature  of  a  scramble.  He 
who  runs  fastest,  gets  the  prize  ;  and  it  is  precisely  because  our 
geographical  situation  gives  us  advantages  in  the  trade  with  the 
West  Indies  and  the  continent  of  America,  which  Europe  does 
not  and  never  can  enjoy,  that  our  rulers  ought  to  leave  com- 
merce with  the  least  possible  extent  of  restriction.  We  have 
no  doubt  that,  if  all  duties  were  low,  our  cities  would  become 
depots  for  immense  amounts  of  merchandize  waiting  for  the 
freshest  advices,  that  are  now  shut  out  by  the  high  duties, 
which  deter  merchants  from  importing,  through  the  fear  that  a 
favourable  market  abroad  may  not  ofter,  before  the  expiration 
of  the  term  within  which  they  would  be  entitled  to  the  benefit  of 
drawback.  And  as  to  the  very  article  of  coarse  cotton  goods, 
we  are  well  persuaded  that,  if  the  duty  on  the  foreign  articles 
were  reduced  to  1.5  per  cent.,  our  exports  of  them  to  South  Ame- 
rica would  be  double  what  we  now  export  of  the  domestic  fa- 
bric. The  real  truth  is,  that  cheap  as  domestic  muslin  now  is, 
it  can  be  made  cheaper  in  England,  and  the  most  conclusive 
evidence  of  this  fact  is  to  be  found  in  the  resolute  manner  in 


OF     FREE     TRADE.  189 

■which  the  manufacturers  adhere  to  the  tariff,  which,  upon  all 
low  priced  muslins,  is  entirely  prohibitory.  If,  however,  the 
Boston  Advertiser  has  any  other  ground  than  the  one  we 
have  stated,  for  its  belief,  we  should  like  to  see  it,  and  we 
think  it  is  a  duty  owing  to  the  country,  for  the  manufacturers 
of  any  protected  article  which  can  now  stand  alone,  to  come 
forward  and  confess  the  fact,  and  propose  a  repeal  of  the  pro- 
tecting duty.  Nothing  but  such  a  frank  and  just  course  can 
ever  satisfy  the  nation ;  and  we  think  that  even  the  manufac- 
turers themselves  would  hardly  be  disposed  to  hazard  the  ex- 
istence of  the  Union,  by  adhering  to  a  principle  which  pro- 
duces no  practical  benefit. 

But  the  Advertiser  proceeds  thus : 

"  The  following  extract  from  a  letter  of  a  mercantile  house 
at  Constantinople,  shows  with  what  favour  the  American  ma- 
nufacture is  regarded  in  that  market,  and  the  extent  of  the  de- 
mand for  it ; 

"  Constantinople,  June  12. — The  whole  Turkish  army  and 
navy,  and  the  great  bulk  of  the  population  generally,  make 
use  chiefly  of  the  cotton  goods  known  in  England  as  grey  do- 
mestics, and  here  as  Americas.  You  will  at  once  perceive  from 
this  fact,  that  the  consumption  must  be  immense.  Hitherto  the 
intercourse  between  the  United  States  and  this  capital  has  been 
exclusively  through  the  medium  of  Smyrna ;  but  from  this 
time  forward  it  will  be  established  direct,  and  we  look  for  some 
excellent  business  to  commence  in  a  few  weeks  hence.  For 
the  reason  alluded  to,  of  our  getting  real  American  domestics 
indirectly,  we  see  scarcely  any  thing  of  the  sort  here.  The 
English  spurious  imitations,  flimsy  and  cheap,  have  usurped 
their  place,  and,  under  the  American  name,  enjoy  a  reputation 
to  which  they  are  ill  entitled.  We  calculate  the  present  con- 
sumption here  at  near  100,000  pieces  annually,  and  it  must 
vastly  increase,  as  the  organization  of  the  Mussulman  nation 
produces  more  opulence  among  the  lower  classes.  When  once 
the  American  cottons  come  forward  freely,  they  will  always 
be  infinitely  preferred  to  the  English,  unless  they  should  happen 
to  stand  in  very  much  dearer,  when  there  would  always  be 
large  buyers  of  the  cheaper  commoditity.  Allow  us  to  say, 
then,  that  we  consider  a  low  price  as  a  desideratum,  even  if  it 
were  necessary,  to  obtain  that  point,  to  deteriorate  the  value  of 
the  article  a  little.  We  could  not  recommend  bringing  it  down 
too  low,  as  it  would  be  well  to  keep  up  its  character  of  supe- 
riority over  its  rival." 

Suppose  we  were  to  say,  that  the  whole  of  the  interior  popu- 
lation of  Brazil  was  clothed  with  cotton  fabrics,  like  the  Turk- 
ish soldiers  and  sailors — what  would  that  argue  in  favour  of  an 
extension  of  our  trade  in  that  article  to  Brazil  \  Absolutely  no- 
thing.   The  fact  is,  that,  of  every  ten  yards  of  cotton  cloth  con- 


190  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

sumed  in  Brazil,  nine  are  made  in  the  country,  as  they  proba 
bly  are  in  Turkey ;  and  if  this  was  not  the  case,  we  should  be 
none  the  better  for  it,  seeing  that  the  British  supply  the  same 
article  cheaper  than  we  can.  The  writer  of  the  letter  from 
Constantinople  very  justly  observes  that,  to  command  a  sale,  our 
domestics  should  not  "  stand  in  very  much  dearer"  than  the 
English;  and  he  might  have  said,  that  if  they  stood  in  any  dearer 
at  all,  for  the  same  quality,  they  could  not  be  sold.  This  is  the 
universal  law  of  trade.  Nobody  consumes  goods  for  any  love 
to  the  makers.  Every  purchaser  buys  where  he  can  get  most 
value  for  his  money,  and  it  makes  no  odds  to  a  Turk,  whether 
his  trowsers  are  made  in  England,  France,  or  the  United  States. 

From  the  manner  in  w^hich  this  letter  is  introduced,  and  from 
its  own  contents,  one  might  be  led  to  suppose  that  the  Turkish 
nation  were  already  very  familiar  wath  our  domestics.  This 
we  doubt  very  much.  Upon  reference  to  the  Treasury  Reports, 
we  find  that,  during  the  year  ending  on  the  30th  September, 
1828,  there  w'cre  exported  to  "  Turkey,  Levant,  &c.,"  white 
piece  goods  to  the  value  of  $3,880,  and  printed  and  coloured 
to  the  value  of  S417,  and  during  the  year  ending  on  30th  Sep- 
tember, 1829,  w^hite  piece  goods  to  the  value  of  $4,004,  and 
printed  and  coloured  to  the  value  of  $172.  Prior  to  these  years, 
we  presume  that  a  less  quantity  must  have  been  exported,  and 
it  is  therefore  very  evident,  that  not  many  Turkish  soldiers  or 
sailors  could  have  ever  seen  our  domestic  cloths. 

But  perhaps  we  shall  be  told,  that  the  "  grey  domestics"  or 
"  Americas,-'  spoken  of  by  the  Constantinople  letter  writer,  had 
been  sent  into  Turkey  from  some  of  the  Mediterranean  ports,  to 
which  they  had  been  previously  shipped.  Now,  as  every  fair 
argument  of  our  opponents  ought  to  be  fairly  met,  and  as  this  is 
undoubtedly  one,  we  shall  give  it  all  due  weight.  Upon  refer- 
ence to  the  official  returns  of  the  exports  of  the  United  States, 
we  find  that  the  value  of  domestic  cottons,  exported  to  all  the 
ports  situate  within  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  was  as  follows, 
viz: 

YEAR  ENDING  30tH  SEPTEMBER, 

1828.  1829. 

Gibraltar,  -  -  23,182  2,914 

Spain  on  the  Mediterranean, 

Italy  and  Malta, 

Trieste  and  other  Austrian  ports, 

Greece  and  Grecian  Archipelago, 

Morocco  and  other  Barbary  States 

$26,851  $14,479 

The  aggregate  of  these  exports  in  two  years,  therefore,  to  all 
the  regions  washed  by  the  Mediterranean  and  its  tributary  seas, 
is  thus  officially  shown  to  have  been  but  $41,330,  and  yet  the 


728 

2,941 

1,485 

10,080 

(none) 

(none) 

(none) 

(none) 

OF    FREE    TRADE.  191 

American  people  are  gravely  told,  that  "  the  whole  Turkish 
army  and  navy,  and  the  great  bulk  of  the  population  generally, 
make  use  chiefly  of  the  cotton  goods  known  in  England  as  grey 
domestics,  and  here  as  Americas^ 

The  first  official  documents  of  the  Treasury  which  noticed 
the  exports  of  domestic  cotton  fabrics  from  the  United  States, 
separate  from  other  manufactures,  was  in  1826.  From  these 
it  appears,  according  to  Waterston  &  Vanzandt's  Tables,  that 
there  were  exported  to  the  Mediterranean  ports,  white  and  co- 
loured cotton  goods — 

In  182t>,  to  the  value  of  $11,445, 
In  1827,  to  the  value  of    23,908. 

That  these  goods  were  shipped  as  experiments,  must  be  ma- 
nifest to  any  one  who  will  reflect  upon  the  diminutive  amount. 
That  the  experiment  has  failed,  after  a  trial  of  three  years,  is 
established  by  the  diminished  export  of  1829.  It  is  really  to  be 
lamented,  that  persons  who  travel  abroad  are  often  so  little  quali- 
fied to  communicate  correct  and  useful  information  to  their  coun- 
trymen. The  writer  of  the  letter  in  question  has  done  a  great 
deal  of  mischief  from  his  ?nania  scribendi  upon  subjects  which 
he  does  not  understand,  for  not  only  has  he  given  occasion  to 
several  editors  to  boast  of  our  great  trade  to  Turkey,  in  cotton 
goods,  but  he  will  probably  induce  some  inexperienced  merchant 
to  try  his  hand  at  furnishing  the  "  whole  Turkish  army  and  navy, 
and  the  great  bulk  of  the  population  generally,"  with  what  are 
called  in  England  ^^  grey  domestics,''  and  in  Constantinople, 
*'  Americas.'" 


ESSAY    No.    LX IV. 

NOVEMBER    3,    1830. 

m 

The  advocates  of  free  trade  are  the  true  friends  of  the  labour- 
ing classes.  Comments  on  a  speech  of  Harrison  Gray  Otis, 
Esq.,  at  Boston.  The  number  of  jpersons  ichose  employments 
are  sustained  by  protecting  duties,  is  a  very  limited  one. 

WE  have,  upon  various  occasions,  in  this  journal,  adverted  to 
the  policy  pursued  by  the  advocates  of  restriction,  in  endea- 
vouring to  impress  upon  the  minds  of  the  great  body  of  the  me- 
chanics and  labouring  classes,  the  identity  of  their  interests  with 
those  of  the  monopoly  seekers,  and  we  have  often  felt,  in  the 
exercise  of  our  editorial  duties,  the  great  want  of  a  specific 
term,  to  signify  against  what  particular  descriptions  of  manufac- 
turers our  general  remarks  were  levelled.    In  consequence  of  this 


192  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

want,  the  free  trade  party  has  laboured  under  a  great  disad- 
vantage. We  are  obHgcd,  in  denouncing  the  system  of  restric- 
tions, to  employ  the  general  term  manufactures,  and  we  there- 
by run  the  risk  of  being  regarded  as  the  opponents  of  all  manu- 
facturers, whereas,  in  truth,  we  are  only  the  opponents  of  that 
particular  portion  oi  ihcm,  form  hi  g  but  a  very  small  paj-t  of  the 
whole  body,  who  require  for  their  support  an  exorbitant  taxation 
to  be  levied  upon  the  pockets  of  all  the  rest  of  the  people. 
Against  that  immense  body  of  men  who  live  by  their  labour  in 
cities  and  towns,  and  who  rely  for  their  success  upon  their  in- 
dustry, skill,  and  enterprise,  and  not  upon  the  forced  contribu- 
tions of  their  neighbours,  we  have  not  the  slightest  warfare  to 
make.  Their  interests  are  identified  with  those  of  the  agricul- 
turists, merchants,  and  seamen,  and  they  have  no  more  sure 
and  sincere  well-wishers  than  the  friends  of  free  trade. 

For  what,  let  us  ask,  is  the  free  trade  party  contending  ?  It 
is  for  a  course  of  national  policy,  the  efiect  of  which  will  be  to 
reduce  the  price  of  commodities  to  the  consumers.  And  against 
whom  are  they  contending  ?  Against  the  few  whom  nothing  will 
suit,  but  a  policy,  the  effect  of  which  is,  to  increase  the  price  of 
commodities  to  the  consumers.  Everj^  man,  therefore,  whose 
interest  it  is  to  buy  cheap,  properly  belongs  to  the  free  trade  in- 
terest, and  if  he  does  not  belong  to  the  free  trade  party  he  stands 
in  opposition  to  his  best  and  truest  friends.  Yes,  we  affirm  it, 
the  true  friends  of  the  poor  man,  of  the  day  labourer,  of  the  me- 
chanic, and  of  nine-tenths  of  all  the  manufacturers,  and  the  whole 
body  of  farmers,  planters,  traders,  and  sailors,  are  the  compar- 
ative few,  who,  stemming  the  torrent  of  abuse,  and  prejudice,  and 
odium,  which  have  overflowed  the  northern  sections  of  our  land, 
are  steadily  marching  on  as  the  volunteer  champions  of  the  li- 
berty of  the  hand. 

In  the  city  of  Boston,  there  was  recently  held  at  Faneuil  Hall, 
a  festival  by  the  Mechanics,  who,  upon  the  occasion,  invited 
Messrs.  Webster,  Otis,  Gorham,E.  Everett,  A.  H.  Everett,  Sul- 
livan, and  others,  not  of  the  mechanical  profession.  The  speech- 
es delivered  by  some  of  these  gentlemen  were  published  in  the 
Boston  Commercial  Gazette  of  October  18,  and  from  one  of  them, 
that  of  Mr.  Otis,  the  mayor  of  Boston,  we  extract  the  following 
passage,  which  occurs  in  connexion  with  some  complimentary 
remarks  upon  the  Association,  which  had  once  been  the  object 
of  an  improper  prejudice. 

"It  was,  however,  deeply  to  be  lamented,  that  hostility  to  the 
institution  had  not  ceased.  In  another  quarter  of  the  country, 
opposition  of  a  most  inveterate  and  impassioned  character  had 
been  displayed,  not,  indeed,  to  this  particular  Association,  but 
to  the  cultivation  and  success  of  the  mechanic  arts  in  this  coun- 
try. It  was  disguised  under  the  colour  of  hostility  to  domes- 
tic manufactures.     But  it  is  one  and  the  same  thing.     When  I 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  193 

consult  my  dictionary,  I  find  that  a  mechanic  is  defined  to  be 
a  manufacturer,  and  that  a  manufacturer  is  described  to  be  a 
workman.  The  words  have  the  same  derivation,  and  are  sy- 
nonymous— tiie  individuals  form  one  and  the  same  class.  There 
is  no  difierence  in  the  nature  of  things,  nor  in  practical  results^ 
between  the  interests  of  those  who  make  the  cloth  and  those 
who  fashion  it  into  garments — of  those  who  build  houses,  and 
those  who  erect  factories  and  construct  machinery.  The  chain 
which  connects  the  mechanical  and  manufacturing  arts,  how- 
4, ever  varied,  is  indissoluble  without  the  ruin  of  the  whole.  The 
enmity  that  breaks  down  one,  undermines  another.  The  poli- 
cy that  forbids  the  making  of  cloth  at  Lowell,  will  annihilate 
the  business  of  making  shoes  at  Lynn.  And  all  the  reasons 
given  for  having  factories  of  cotton  and  woollen  confined  to 
foreign  countries,  are  equally  strong  in  favour  of  transferring  all 
our  '  workshops  to  Europe.'  To  defeat  this  scheme  it  was 
only  necessary  to  comprehend  clearly  its  scope  and  tendency, 
and  to  resist  all  efforts  made  to  create  jealousies  and  dissen- 
sions between  those  who  are  essentially  engaged  in  promoting 
a  common  interest.  It  is  the  interest  only  to  which  attention 
should  be  directed,  and  not  to  the  individuals  or  corporations, 
by  which  any  particular  manufacture  is  patronized  and  sup- 
ported. Labour  and  the  labour  of  working  men,  is  the  founda- 
tion of  them  all,  and  the  prosperity  of  the  working  classes  is 
involved  in  the  success  of  making  that  labour  profitable  to  the 
community.  This  intimate  connexion  is  obvious  to  the  appre- 
hension of  every  intelligent  mind.  It  is  understood  and  avow- 
ed by  the  working  men  of  other  places  and  states — of  Wash- 
ington— of  Ohio — of  Kentucky — of  Philadelphia — of  Baltimore, 
and  elsewhere — and  I  have  no  doubt  will  be  equally  compre- 
hended and  supported  by  the  members  of  this  Association.  In 
conclusion,  I  propose  the  following  toast : 

The  most  ancient  and  natural  alliance  that  ever  existed  up- 
on earth ;  the  alliance  between  the  arts  which  furnish  habita- 
tions and  those  which  produce  clothing  for  the  human  race. 
They  are  by  nature  one  and  indivisible — and  what  God  hath 
joined,  let  no  man  strive  to  break  asunder." 

In  the  extract  above  quoted,  Mr.  Otis  has  struggled  hard  to 
show,  that  the  manufacturers  of  woollen  and  cotton  fabrics  have 
the  same  interests  with  those  who  fashion  them  into  garments — 
that  is,  tailors  and  seamstresses.  Now,  we  think  we  can  show, 
that  Mr.  Otis  has  ventured  a  position  winch  cannot  be  sustain- 
ed. Every  body  knows,  that,  in  proportion  to  the  cheapness  of 
cloth,  a  greater  quantity  is  made  into  garments,  and  it  follows 
as  certainly  as  an  efl^ect  follows  its  cause,  that  any  policy  which 
prevents  cloth  from  being  as  cheap  as  it  would  be  without  that 
policy,  diminishes  the  demand  for  the  labour  of  those  who  live 
by  making  clothes.  It  would  be  vain  to  deny  this  self-evident 
R 


194  *       ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES  , 

proposition  ;  and  as  the  restrictive  system  of  this  country  is  de- 
signed to  keep  up  the  price  of  cloth,  and  does  actually  accom- 
phsh  tluit  design,  it  is  just  as  sound  reasoning  to  pretend  to 
identify  the  interests  of  the  two  classes  named,  as  to  identify 
the  interests  of  the  growers  of  wool  with  the  manufacturer  of 
wool,  one  of  which  is  benefited  by  a  high  price  for  the  raw  ma- 
terial, and  the  other  by  a  low  price. 

But  Mr.  Otis  iurther  says,  that  the  interests  "  of  those  who 
build  houses,  and  those  who  erect  factories,"  are  identicah 
This  is  saying  nothing  more,  than  that  a  man  who  builds  a 
house  of  one  size  or  shape,  has  the  same  interests  as  a  man  who 
builds  one  of  another  size  or  shape.  This  is  a  mere  truism,  which 
we  shall  not  dispute.  Nor  shall  we  dispute  the  further  position, 
that  the  interest  of  the  former  is  not  diflerent  from  that  of  the 
man  who  builds  machinery.  The  labour  employed  in  both 
cases  is  mechanical  labour,  and  labour  unprotected  by  any 
species  of  tax  upon  the  industry  of  others.  The  carpenter,  the 
bricklayer,  the  mason,  the  plasterer,  the  painter,  the  glazier, 
the  lumber-cutter,  the  brick-maker,  the  lime-burner,  the  cellar- 
digger,  the  hod-carrier,  the  machine-maker,  are  all  upon  the 
same  footing.  They  have  no  monopoly  of  their  trades  against 
the  world,  as  some  of  their  fellow  citizens  have,  for  they  are 
open  to  the  rivalship  of  Europe,  and  have  their  competition 
every  year  rendered  more  injurious  to  them  by  immigration. 
But  how  it  can  be  pretended  to  identify  their  interests  with  those 
of  the  monopolists,  who  thrive  only  by  the  taxes  on  the  indus- 
try of  all  the  rest  of  the  community,  we  are  not  able  to  see. 
We  can  as  readily  imagine  an  identity  of  interests  between  a 
tax-payer  and  a  tax-collector,  or  between  a  wolf  and  a  sheep. 
The  truth  is,  that  the  man  who  is  authorised  by  the  compulsory 
process  of  law,  to  put  his  fingers  into  his  neighbour's  pocket 
and  take  from  it  a  dollar  for  a  yard  of  cloth,  which  the  neigh- 
bour could,  in  the  absence  of  such  a  law,  buy  from  somebody 
else  for  half-a-dollar,  never  can  have  an  identity  of  interests 
with  that  plundered  neighbour.  The  neighbour  may,  indeed,  if 
he  be  a  good  natured  simpleton,  not  see  the  slight  of  hand  by 
which  his  pocket  is  picked,  especially  if  it  be  done  by  a  corpo- 
ration, which,  being  an  invisible  person,  might  perform  such 
an  operation  better  than  a  visible  agent ;  but  others  will  see  it, 
and  if  he  will  not  listen  to  their  warning,  he  deserves  to  be 
fleeced. 

Mr.  Otis  further  says — "  The  chain  which  connects  the  me- 
chanical and  manufacturing  arts,  however  varied,  is  indissolu- 
ble without  the  ruin  of  the  whole."  There  is  some  truth  in  this, 
if  applied  to  that  natural  connexion  between  the  pursuits  of  in- 
dustry which  belongs  to  the  condition  of  society  in  a  state  of 
freedom.  When  laws  do  not  interfere  with  the  employments  of 
people,  the  labours  of  a  population  are  invariably  directed  to 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  195 

the  most  profitable  pursuits,  and  hence  a  chain  of  beautiful,  be- 
cause natural  proportions,  is  the  result.  The  moment,  how- 
ever, law-makers  arrogate  to  themselves  the  power  of  regulat- 
ing the  labour  of  the  people,  by  declaring  that  some  trades  shall 
be  increased  and  others  diminished,  the  chain  becomes  imme- 
diately disfigured.  Instead  of  a  uniform  construction,  which, 
let  it  be  remembered,  is  essential  to  the  strength  and  durability 
of  the  chain,  we  have  a  long  link  and  a  short  link,  a  thick  link 
and  a  slender  link,  and  so  far  from  gaining,  we  become  im- 
mense losers  by  the  operation.  But,  says  Mr.  Otis,  "  the  po- 
licy that  forbids  the  making  of  cloth  at  Lowell,  will  annihilate 
the  business  of  making  shoes  at  Lynn."  There  is  in  this  ex- 
pression less  candour  than  we  should  have  expected  from  Mr. 
Otis.  That  gentleman  must  know  perfectly  well,  that  with  the 
entire  free  trade  party  in  the  United  States,  the  question  of  pro- 
tection is,  and  always  has  been,  a  question  of  exorbitancy ;  that 
the  duties  of  181G,  if  permitted  to  stand  without  increase,  would 
never  have  occasioned  the  angry  and  bitter  feelings  of  sectional 
interests  which  now  unhappily  prevail ;  and  that  there  is  not  now 
a  public  man  in  Congress,  who  would  not  readily  consent  to  settle 
down  upon  the  tariff  of  1816.  And  what  then  w^ould  be  the 
fate  of  the  shoe  manufacture  ?  Why  a  duty  of  twenty-five  cents 
per  pair  upon  men's  shoes,  and  fifteen  cents  upon  children's,  the 
rate  fixed  in  that  year,  and  ivhick/ias  never  since  been  altered. 
The  selection  of  this  article  was  truly  unfortunate.  The  shoe 
manufacture  of  Lynn  dates  its  prosperity  to  a  period  much  an- 
terior to  1816,  at  a  time  when  the  duty  was  but  15  and  10  cents 
per  pair,  the  rate  fixed  in  1794,  and  would  have  been  prosper- 
ous, had  no  increase  ever  taken  place. 

But  "  all  the  reasons  given  for  having  factories  of  cotton  and 
woollen  confined  to  foreign  countries,  are  equally  strong  in  fa- 
vour of  transferring  all  our  workshops  to  Europe,"  says  Mr. 
Otis,  We  should  be  glad  to  be  told  who  has  ever  proposed 
having  factories  of  cotton  and  woollen  coniined  to  foreign 
countries ;  and  we  should  pronounce  any  such  man  ignorant 
of  the  first  principles  of  political  economy.  Every  one  who 
has  examined  the  subject  must  know,  that  in  the  natural  course 
of  things,  a  vast  proportion  of  the  cotton  and  woollen  fabrics 
consumed  in  this  country,  must  of  necessity  be  produced  in  the, 
country,  as  the  most  advantageous  mode  of  employing  a  cer- 
tain portion  of  labour.  He  must  also  know  that  this  has  al- 
ways been  the  case  with  woollen  goods,  even  when  the  duties 
were  but  five  per  cent.,  and  that  it  would  be  the  case  now  if  the 
duties  were  reduced  to  five  per  cent.  To  confine  our  cotton  and 
woollen  factories  to  foreign  countries,  would  be  a  violation  of 
the  very  principle  of  freedom  for  which  the  friends  of  free  trade 
are  contending,  and  would,  therefore,  never  be  proposed  by 
them.     That  policy  would  be  as  unsound  which  would  force 


196  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

importations,  as  that  which  would  force  domestic  production. 
But  admitting  that  there  should  be  any  party  silly  enough  to  re- 
commend such  a  course,  it  would  not,  nevertheless,  prove  that 
the  duties  on  cotton  and  woollen  manufactures  ought  not  to  be 
reduced.  Nor  would  it  prove  that  such  policy  would  be  equally 
strong  in  favour  of  transferring  all  our  workshops  to  Europe. 
The  great  bulk  of  the  workshops  of  every  country  must  needs 
be  within  that  country.  The  labour  of  the  great  body  of  the 
mechanics  and  other  working  men,  can  only  be  employed  at 
home,  and  Mr.  Otis  may  take  it  as  an  indisputable  principle, 
that  none  of  our  workshops  will  ever  be  transferred  to  Europe 
unless  a  greater  quantity  of  productions  can  be  obtained  out  of 
them  there  than  at  home,  with  the  same  (juantity  of  American' 
industry.  That  "  labour,  and  the  labour  of  working  men,  is 
the  foundation  of  all  manufactures,"  cannot  be  denied,  but  this 
does  not  prove  that  it  is  not  better  to  employ  a  working  man 
in  agriculture,  if  two  yards  of  cloth  can  be  obtained  out  of  a 
day's  labour,  than  to  employ  him  in  manufactures  which  will 
only  produce  one  yard  in  the  same  time. 


ESSAY    No.    LXV. 


NOVEMBER    3,    1830. 


The  boasted  exports  of  cotton  fabrics,  to  the  East  Indies  and 
China,  shewn  to  "prove  nothing  as  to  our  ability  to  undersell 
the  British  in  foreign  markets. 

THE  following  articles  have  been  copied  into  a  number  of 
papers,  and  will  no  doubt  go  the  rounds : 

From  the  Boston  Daily  Advertiser. 

Theory  vs.  Facts. — The  opponents  of  the  American  System 
have  predicted  that  it  would  work  the  speedy  destruction  of 
our  commerce  and  navigation — and  they  will  now  quote  you 
chapter  and  verse  from  all  the  writers  on  free  trade,  to  prove 
it.  Within  the  last  three  months,  some  thousands  of  tons  o^ 
merchandise  have  been  imported  in  our  ships  from  Calcutta, 
three  fourths  of  the  bulk  of  which  consist  of  raw  materials  for 
the  use  of  our  manufactories  in  this  vicinity,  and  upon  which 
the  ship  owners  have  pocketed  a  freight  of  from  twenty-five  to 
thirty  dollars  per  ton,  and  the  importers  twenty  to  forty  per 
cent.,  profit — and,  what  is  more  to  be  noted  and  wondered  at,  a 
part  of  these  very  cargoes  have  been  paid  for  by  oiir  cotton  ma- 
nufactures sold  in  Calcutta  at  a  profit  of  from  15  to  25  per  cent. 
The  instances  of  profitable  shipments  of  our  coarse  cottons  to 


OP    FREE     TRADE.  197 

India  are  not  one  or  two,  but  many.  The  intrinsic  superiority 
of  our  "  domestics"  to  the  "  India  cottons,"  is  now  almost  as 
well  understood  and  appreciated  by  the  natives  of  Hindostan  as 
by  those  of  New  England. 

If  there  vet  remain  amongst  us  any  who  would  advocate  the 
policy  y\  •'  keeping  our  workshops  in  Europe,"  let  them  remain 
as  monuments  of  the  safety  with  which  errors  in  theory  may 
be  tolerated,  while  reason  and  such  facts  are  at  hand  to  refute 
them.  But  beware  how  you  allow  their  theories  to  be  brought 
into  practice  ! 

You  will  soon  have  an  opportunity  of  seeing  the  practical  re- 
sult of  one  branch  of  the  "  free  trade  system"  in  the  opening  of 
the  British  West  India  ports.  English  shipping  will  again  be- 
come most  troublesome  competitors — and  your  sagacious  Yan- 
kee ship-owners  are  already  hesitating  as  to  the  propriety  of 
shouting,  quite  so  loudly,  hosannas,  in  praise  of  this  "  masterly 
achievement  in  diplomacy  which  is  to  place  the  administration 
in  another  blaze  of  glory." 

From  the  Salem  Gazette. 

"  Salem. — Carrying  Cotton  to  Calcutta. — It  is  but  a  few  years 
since  this  action  would  have  been  deemed  no  less  absurd  than 
that  expressed  by  the  corresponding  phrase  of  "  Carrying  Coal 
to  Newcastle  ;"  yet  it  bids  fair  to  be  soon  one  of  frequent  occur- 
rence. The  ship  Rome,  of  this  port,  belonging  to  P.  Dodge, 
Esq.,  on  the  outward  voyage  from  which  she  has  just  returned, 
carried  about  300  bales  of  American  cotton  cloths,  which  it  is 
well  understood  paid  a  high  profit  in  Calcutta.  Those  whose 
memory  extends  to  the  very  recent  period  when  the  trashy  cot- 
tons of  India,  with  their  uncouth  nomenclature,  filled  our  mar- 
ket, will  hardly  be  able  to  realize  that  the  natives  of  Bengal  are 
now  dependent  upon  foreign  countries  for  the  cotton  with  which 
they  are  clothed — but  it  is  true.  The  manufacture  of  cotton 
has  almost  ceased  there,  and  is  now  confined  to  the  production 
of  a  few  goods  of  the  very  coarsest  kind,  their  wants  being 
principally  supplied  from  Great  Britain.  The  steam-engine  al- 
lows no  competition  of  human  labour. 

American  cottons  find  a  ready  market  in  the  island  of  Ma- 
dagascar, where  they  are  a  favourite  article.  Many  bales  have 
been  sent  to  that  quarter  by  our  Salem  merchants,  who  have 
found  their  account  in  it." 

The  foregoing  accounts  are  highly  flattering,  and  will  na 
doubt  be  considered  by  many  who  read  them,  as  conclusive  on 
the  subject  of  our  ability  to  export  largely  of  cotton  manufactures. 
We,  however,  are  somewhat  sceptical  on  this  point.  Although  we 
know,  and  admit  the  fact,  that  since  the  improvements  in  labour- 
saving  machinery  which  have  been  made  in  Europe  and  in  this 
country,  within  the  last  fourteen  years,  have  superseded  in  a  great 
degree  the  manual  labour  previously  applied  to  the  spinning  and 
R* 


198  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

weaving  of  cotton,  and  have  reduced  the  cost  of  manufacturing 
the  coarse  qualities  to  a  fourth  or  less  of  the  former  expense, 
yet  we  are  very  far  from  believing  that  the  manufacture  "  has 
almost  ceased"  in  India,  "  and  is  now  confined  to  the  produc- 
tion of  a  few  goods  of  the  very  coarsest  kind,"  or,  that  "  the  na- 
tives of  Bengal  are  now  dependent  upon  foreign  countries  for 
the  cotton  with  which  they  are  clothed."  The  reasons  why  we 
are  sceptical  upon  these  points,  notwithstanding  the  high  autho- 
rity quoted  above,  founded  no  doubt  upon  what  was  supposed  to 
be  good  testimony,  are  the  following : 

Fii'st.  It  is  impossible  that  so  great  a  revolution  in  the  indus- 
try of  so  numerous  a  people  as  the  inhabitants  of  Bengal,  could 
have  taken  place  in  the  short  space  of  fourteen  years.  Prior  to 
that  period,  India  supplied  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  cot- 
ton manufactures  consumed  by  the  inhabitants  of  North  and 
South  America,  the  West  Indies,  and  Europe,  besides  all  her 
own  population ;  and  to  make  good  the  positions  above  laid 
down,  it  ought  to  have  been  shown,  by  reference  to  some  au- 
thentic documents,  from  what  countries  she  now  derives  her 
supplies.  If  she  derives  them  from  Great  Britain,  as  asserted, 
she  must  pay  for  them ;  and  the  imports  from  India  into  Great 
Britain  would  consequently  show  a  gradually  increasing  amount. 
To  ascertain  how  this  fact  is,  we  have  not  at  hand  the  necessa- 
ry documents  to  refer  to,  but  we  have  a  table  before  us,  which 
gives  the  following  statement  of  the  value  of  all  the  merchan- 
dise imported  into  Great  Britain  from  the  East  Indies  and  China, 
in  the  following  years 


1815 

£8,042,292 

1816 

8,312,591 

1817 

7,687,328 

1818 

7,342,800 

1819 

7,544,462 

1820 

7,565,678 

1821 

6,256,210 

1822 

5,123,000 

1823 

6,918,540 

This  certainly  does  not  look  much  like  a  gradually  increas- 
ing export  from  India,  at  least  up  to  1823  ;  but  even  admitting 
a  very  considerable  one  since  that  year,  how  plain  is  to  be  seen 
the  improbability  of  its  having  amounted  to  any  such  extent  as 
would  warrant  the  assertion  of  the  wants  of  the  population  of 
Bengal  "  being  principally  supplied  from  Great  Britain." 

Secondly.  It  is  well  known  that  the  improvements  in  labour- 
saving  machinery  which  have  made  the  great  revolution  in  the 
cotton  manufacture,  are  chiefly  applied  to  the  coarsest  goods, 
and  not  to  the  finer  qualities ;  and,  consequently,  the  position 
that  the  Bengalese  are  driven  out  of  the  manufacture  of  the  lat- 
ter, and  can  only  find  their  account  in  making  the  former,  is 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  199 

not  reconcileable  with  sound  philosophy.  The  contrary  effect 
ought,  in  the  natural  course  of  things,  to  have  been  produced, 
and  we  presume  has  been  produced,  as  far  as  the  cotton 
manufacture  of  India  has  been  influenced  by  these  improve- 
ments. In  the  year  ending  on  30th  September,  1828,  there 
were  imported  into  the  United  States  from  the  British  East  In- 
dies, white,  printed,  and  coloured  cotton  goods,  to  the  amount 
of  105,799  dollars,  and  in  the  year  ending  Sept.  30,  1829,  to  the 
amount  of  45,153  dollars.  Will  the  Salem  Gazette  say,  that 
these  were  the  coarsest  species  of  goods  1  We  think  not ;  or 
else  our  merchants  who  exported  coarse  goods  must  have 
been  committing  a  great  folly,  for  a  profitable  trade  could  not 
have  been  carried  on  both  ways  in  the  same  article. 

Let  us  now  examine  the  position  respecting  the  "  manij" 
profitable  shipments  of  our  coarse  cottons  to  India,  the  superi- 
ority of  which,  in  the  opinion  of  the  writer  in  the  Boston  Ga- 
zette, has  become  "  now  almost  as  well  understood  and  appre- 
ciated by  the  natives  of  Hindostan,  as  by  those  of  New  En- 
gland." In  this  assumption,  we  think  the  correspondent  of  the 
Gazette  has  been  just  about  as  much  mistaken,  as  the  Constan- 
tinople correspondent  of  the  same  paper,  whose  letter  we  ex- 
amined in  our  last,  was,  respecting  the  consumption  of  cotton 
fabrics  by  the  Turks.  To  enable  the  population  of  Bengal,  or 
indeed  any  considerable  portion  of  them,  to  become  intimate- 
ly acquainted  with  our  "  domestics,"  would  require  no  incon- 
siderable shipments,  even  to  afford  samples.  Now  let  us  see 
whether  such  shipments  have  been  made.  The  first  accounts 
of  the  export  of  cotton  fabrics,  separate  from  other  manufac- 
tures, were  kept  by  the  Treasury  Department  in  1826,  prior 
to  which  year  the  exports  were  not  considerable.  Upon  re- 
ference to  the  official  documents,  we  find  that  the  exports  of 
white  and  printed  and  coloured  cottons  to  the  British  East  In- 
dies, were  as  follows : 

182G         -         nothing. 

1827  -  $1,200 

1828  -  1,957 

1829  -  9,553 


Total     $12,710 

Here  we  have,  to  be  sure,  a  pretty  quantity  of  domestics,  to 
exhibit  so  extensively  amongst  so  many  millions  of  people,  as 
Jo  enable  their  superiority  to  become  "  almost  as  well  under- 
stood and  appreciated"  by  them,  as  by  the  shrewd  population 
of  New  England.  The  position  really  must  have  been  advanced 
through  inadvertence. 

But  perhaps  we  shall  be  told,  that  the  "  many'^  shipments  al- 
luded to,  were  first  made  to  other  ports,  and  from  them  to  Cal- 
cutta.    This  is  an  argument,  and  we  \n'\\\  sec  how  it  will  hold 


200  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

out  For  the  purpose  of  giving  a  fair  chance  to  the  respecta- 
ble writers  whose  positions  we  are  combating,  and  who  we  are 
quite  sure  would  make  out  a  better  case,  if  they  were  only  on 
the  side  where  they  projierly  belong,  we  have  examined  the 
oflicial  documents,  and  find  the  following  as  the  total  amount 
of  exports  of  cotton  goods,  to  all  countries  East  of  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  viz : 

1826. 
China  -  .  .  -  .         $14,931 

1827. 
China  ....  -  9,388 

1828. 
China  .  .  _  .    $14,981 

Dutch  East  Indies      -  .  -         2,557 

Manilla  and  Philippine  Islands  -  534 

Asia  generally  ...  583 

18,655 


1829. 

China             .             -             - 

-    $25,913 

Dutch  East  Indies 

5,777 

Manilla  and  Philippine  Islands 

552 

Asia  generally 

5,233 

37,475 

Add  to  this  the  amount  exported  during  the  same 

period  to  the  British  East  Indies  -  -    12,710 


And  we  have  a  total  of  $93,159 


This  amount  is  not  equal,  upon  an  average,  to  $24,000 
per  annum,  and  we  would  be  glad  to  see  it  stated  by  the  Boston 
Advertiser,  what  proportion  of  the  *'  thousands  of  tons^'  of 
merchandise  imported  at  Boston,  within  the  last  three  months, 
were  "  paid  for  by  our  cotton  manufactures  ;"  and  we  should  like 
the  Salem  Gazette  to  let  us  know  what  quantity  of  American 
cottons  would  "  find  a  ready  market  at  Madagascar."  We  are 
inclined  to  think,  that  the  answer  would  be,  "  not  much  ;"  and 
truly  we  think,  that  neither  the  trade  with  Turkey,  nor  that 
with  the  East  Indies,  is  of  such  magnitude,  as  to  warrant  all  the 
shouts  of  exultation  which  have  been  raised  about  them.  As  to 
the  dogmatical  assertion  of  the  Salem  Gazette,  that  "  the  steam 
engine  allows  no  competition  of  human  labour,"  we  take  the  li- 
berty of  suggesting  to  him,  that  he  will  not  find  that  position 
supported  by  facts.  Not  only  is  a  vast  proportion  of  the  cloth 
manufactured  in  Great  Britain  woven  by  the  hand  loom,  but  it 
is  the  case  even  in  this  country,  where  wages  are  so  much 
dearer,  and  must  be  more  extensively  so  in  India,  where  labour 
is  so  much  cheaper.  In  a  former  number  of  this  paper,  we  pub- 
lished an  article  from  an  English  newspaper,  stating  that  a  large 


'  OF    FREE    TRADE.  201 

manufacturing  concern  was  about  abandoning  the  power  loom, 
in  consequence  of  the  hand  loom  having,  by  the  lowness  of 
wages,  become  the  cheapest. 

In  this  examination,  we  have  met  the  question  fairly,  and  we 
think  the  Boston  Advertiser  and  Salem  Gazette  are  bound  to 
sustain  their  positions,  or  acknowledge  a  defeat.  We  will  most 
cheerfully  listen  to  their  replies,  and  give  them  an  insertion  in 
our  columns  ;  and  should  they  be  able  to  show  that  we  can  ex- 
port cotton  goods  to  Calcutta,  to  a  profit,  we  shall  expect  it  of 
their  candour  honestly  to  confess  that  the  prohibitory  duty  of 
this  country  is  now  no  longer  necessary. 

P.  S.  After  the  foregoing  was  written,  we  were  favoured 
with  a  letter  from  a  highly  respectable  merchant  of  Philadel- 
phia, which  will  completely  settle  this  question.  This  is  the 
sort  of  argument  necessary  for  our  cause  in  the  present  state 
of  the  contest,  and  if  the  merchants  generally  knew  how  much 
they  could  aid  the  cause  of  free  trade  and  their  own  pockets, 
by  communications  like  the  one  referred  to,  they  would  hard- 
ly withhold  contributions  so  easily  to  be  made  : 

"  Philadelphia,  Oct.  22,  1830. 

"  Dear  Sir :  I  have  lately  noticed  your  publications  in  the  Ban- 
ner, on  the  subject  of  the  possibiUty  of  our  coarse  cotton  manu- 
factures competing  in  foreign  markets  with  the  British,  in  reply 
to  the  various  small  publications  or  paragraphs  appearing  in  the 
tariff'  newspapers.  There  is,  however,  one,  which  I  believe  has 
escaped  your  eye.  It  appeared  in  a  Salem  or  Boston  paper, 
and  has  since  been  copied  into  several  of  the  newspapers  of 
this  city,  which  even  goes  further  than  any  thing  yet  published 
to  show  how  cheap  coarse  cotton  goods  can  be  made  in  this 
country,  and  that  we  can  even  beat  the  British  in  their  own 
territories,  and  that  too  in  a  cotton-growing,  manufacturing 
country,  where  the  price  of  labour  is  about  10  cents  per  day. 

The  publication  alluded  to  states  that  a  Mr.  Dodge,  of  Salem, 
exported  in  the  ship  Rome,  to  Calcutta,  300  bales  of  domestic 
manufactured  cotton  goods,  and  sold  them  advantageously.  In 
order  that  you  may  judge  of  the  correctness  of  this  statement,  I 
will  state  to  you  a  fact  which  I  can  readily  establish.  I  recently 
imported  into  this  country  a  quantity  of  East  India  white  cot- 
ton goods,  assimilating  in  fabric  to  the  coarse  American  or 
domestic  muslin  of  40  inches  actual  width,  bleached  and  put  up 
in  bales,  and  sold  them  at  less  than  twelve  cents  per  yard,  short 
price,  (that  is,  free  of  duty,  or  taking  the  drawback  to  meet  the 
duty,)  to  a  person  for  exportation  to  South  America,  he  pur- 
chasing them  in  preference  to  American  manufiictures,  and  I 
making  on  the  importation  a  fair  mercantile  profit,  and  such  as 
will  induce  me  to  repeat  the  importation,  and  I  feel  a  tolerable 
certainty  of  obtaining  the  same  price. — Prior  to  making  the 
sale,  I  showed  the  goods  to  a  person  who  had  been  engaged  in 


202  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

the  manufacturing  of  cottons,  who  admitted  that  at  the  price 
named  to  him,  ratiier  more  too  than  I  sold  them  at,  they  were 
cheaper  than  any  tiling  in  the  market. 

Should  the  Salem  publication  be  substantiated,  what  a  most 
fortunate  state  of  things  have  we  arrived  at  in  mercantile  af- 
fairs !  I  can  import  East  India  goods  at  a  profit,  and  Mr.  Dodge 
can  ship  articles  of  similar  fabric  to  the  East  Indies,  and  make 
a  profit." 


ESSAY    No.    LXVI. 

NOVEMBER   10,    1830. 


Impossibility  of  preventing  smnggling  into  the  United  States^ 
on  the  Canada  frontier. 

WE  presume  that  the  following  instance  of  smuggling  is  but 
a  slender  sample  of  what  may  be  looked  for  in  the  winter, 
when  the  freezing  of  the  lakes  and  rivers  which  separate  our 
Northern  frontier  from  Canada,  will  render  a  custom-house 
about  as  efficient  a  protection  against  the  unlawful  importation 
of  goods,  as  a  block -house  or  two  would  be  upon  a  line  of  six 
or  seven  hundred  miles,  against  the  invasion  of  an  army.  It 
is  really  astonishing  that  the  friends  of  the  restrictive  system 
should  not  be  able  to  perceive,  that  to  prevent  smuggling  upon 
a  scale  sufficiently  great  to  counteract  all  their  high  duties,  is  a 
physical  as  icell  as  a  moral  impossibility,  and  that  after  a  sys- 
tem has  once  been  completely  organized,  it  will  be  impossible 
to  break  it  down.  This  nation  has  thus  far  been  preserved 
from  the  evils  of  smuggling  by  the  moral  sentiment  of  the  people. 
That  moral  sentiment  has  operated  like  a  wall  around  the  coun- 
try, and  has  prevented  the  illicit  introduction  of  foreign  commo- 
dities. But  even  the  morals  of  a  well-disposed  population  may 
be  shaken  by  strong  temptation.  The  consciences  of  men  difler 
in  their  width  and  breadth.  There  are  hundreds  of  individuals 
who  would  shudder  at  the  idea  of  perjury  for  a  paltry  profit  of 
twenty-five  per  cent.,  but  who  for  the  sake  of  a  hundred  or  two 
hundred  per  cent,  could  easily  reconcile  themselves  to  what 
is  called  a  custom-house  oath.  There  are  also  thousands,  who 
for  the  sake  of  twenty-five  per  cent,  profit  on  cotton  and  wool- 
len cloths,  would  not  for  the  world  violate  the  laws  of  their  coun- 
try, but  who,  if  they  could  pocket  eight  times,  four  times,  or 
even  twice  that  amount,  would  think  it  no  great  crime  to  take 
a  sleigh-ride  to  Canada,  and  accommodate  their  neighbours  by 
selling  them  goods,  on  their  return,  at  half  the  price  of  regular 
importation.     If  any  one  doubts  that  such  things  could  exist  in 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  203 

a  moral  community  like  that  of  the  United  States,  he  can  ea- 
sily satisfy  himself  by  propounding  the  following  question  to  the 
first  dozen  casuists  he  may  meet.  Suppose  a  storekeeper  were 
to  ask  forty  cents  a  yard  for  llannel  or  baize,  and  his  next  door 
neighbour  would  ask  but  thirty  cents  for  the  same  quality,  how 
many  purchasers  out  of  every  hundred  in  this  moral  city  of 
Washington  would  refuse  to  purchase  of  the  latter,  merely  be- 
cause there  was  a  suspicion  that  he  had  bought  his  goods  of  a 
smuggler,  and  not  of  a  regular  importer  ?  Then  let  the  same 
question  be  put,  in  reference  to  that  portion  of  our  population 
who  are  conscientiously  in  the  belief  that  the  tariff'  law  is  un- 
constitutional, and  therefore  not  morally  binding  upon  them,  as 
is  the  case  almost  wholly  throughout  the  Southern  and  South- 
western states,  and  partially  throughout  all  the  other  states, 
and  we  should  be  much  surprised  if  he  would  find  in  the  reply 
any  thing  to  warrant  him  in  relying  upon  high  duties  as  a 
protection  against  foreign  competition. 

But,  say  the  restrictionists,  there  is  one  sovereign  remedy 
against  smuggling — which  is  prohibition — and  to  that  w^e  must 
at  last  resort.  This  is  precisely  the  sort  of  reasoning  which  the 
drowning  man  employs,  when,  finding  that  the  plank  eludes  his 
grasp,  he  cries  out,  "  I  have  yet  one  other  hope  left — I  will 
seize  that  straw  !"  If  we  were  desirous  of  seeing  the  total  over- 
throw  of  the  American  System,  and  could  reconcile  our  morals 
to  the  doctrine  that  the  end  in  all  cases  justifies  the  means,  we 
would  recommend  prohibition  as  the  most  efficient  method  of  ac- 
complishing it.  Such  a  step,  in  the  actual  posture  of  affairs,  would 
look  like  giving  permanency  to  a  system  now  regarded  by  the 
great  body  of  the  people  as  temporary,  and  merely  intended  to 
assist  for  a  while  those  who  have  declared  that  by  and  by  they 
will  need  no  governmental  aid.  Such  appearance  of  permanen- 
cy would  alarm  the  nation,  and  induce  the  agricultural  portion 
of  the  middle  and  Western  states  to  reflect  deeper  upon  the 
subject  than  they  have  hitherto  done,  and  perhaps  induce  them 
to  repeal  the  w^hole  code  ;  or,  if  this  should  not  take  place,  many 
more  persons  than  are  now  concerned  in  smuggling,  would  turn 
their  attention  to  that  profitable  branch  of  industry.  We  should 
then  have  foreign  goods  cheaper  than  they  are  now.  The  sup- 
plies now  imported  under  high  duties,  would  then  be  imported 
free  of  duties,  and  as  this  would  lower  their  price,  greater  quan- 
tities w'ould  be  brought  into  the  country,  in  competition  with  the 
domestic  fabric. 

It  is  all  idle  to  attempt  to  controvert  this  reasoning,  by  the 
feeble  argument,  that,  under  a  state  of  prohibition  the  foreign 
article  can  be  detected.  This  may  be  the  case  with  some  things, 
but  with  the  great  mass  of  cotton  and  woollen  cloths,  of  the 
qualities  to  which  prohibition  would  be  extended,  such  facility 
of  detection  could  not  exist.     We  every  day  hear  it  proclaimed 


204  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

in  the  tariff  papers,  that  cloths  and  calicoes  and  carpets  are 
made  in  this  couniry  so  much  like  the  British,  that  they  cannot 
be  distinguished  ironi  tiiem.  And  are  not  the  powers  of  imita- 
tion in  England  as  great  as  ours  I  Cannot  marks  be  forged  to 
suit  every  manufacturer  in  the  country?  Can  every  revenue 
officer  in  the  land  be  qualified  to  judge  of  the  validity  of  the 
marks  upon  tens  of  thousands  of  pieces  of  goods  which  may 
come  under  his  inspection  1  And  even  admitting  a  degree  of 
knowledge  which  no  human  being  can  possess,  of  what  avail 
would  his  science  be  in  detecting  the  millions  of  yards  which 
would  enter  the  country  without  coming  under  his  view  1  of 
what  avail  would  it  be  in  detecting  the  retailers,  who  might 
keep  in  their  shops  one  legitimate  mark,  as  the  successive  ap- 
pendage of  a  dozen  illegitimate  pieces  of  cloth  1  The  idea  is 
preposterous.  Detection  could  only  result  from  a  wide  spread 
system  of  espionage,  by  which  the  stores  and  shops  of  mer- 
chants and  traders  would  be  liable  to  the  intrusive  visits  of  re- 
venue officers  and  common  informers,  their  business  to  constant 
interruptions  from  inquisitorial  and  impertinent  interference,  and 
their  credit  to  injury  from  ill  founded  suspicions  and  surmises. 
Such  a  state  of  things  we  hope  never  to  see  in  this  country,  and 
such  a  state  of  things  we  are  satisfied  never  can  be  introduced 
until  the  people  shall  prefer  the  interests  of  a  favoured  few  to 
the  enjoyment  of  that  liberty  for  which  their  ancestors  sacri- 
ficed so  much. 

The  following  is  the  article  referred  to : 

"  We  learn  from  a  friend  who  has  just  returned  from  White- 
hall, that,  on  Thursday  last,  a  Mr.  Delance,  one  of  Mr. 
McNeal's  Inspectors  at  that  place,  made  a  seizure  of  twelve 
bales  of  woollens,  consisting  principally  of  baizes,  which  had 
been  landed,  as  conjectured,  from  a  boat  called  the  Mohegan, 
laden  with  boards,  from  Champlain.  The  bales  were  landed 
within  less  than  a  mile  of  Whitehall,  in  the  woods,  three  in  ,a 
place,  and  about  three-fourths  of  a  mile  from  each  other.  Said 
goods  are  now  in  the  hands  of  the  Collector  at  Plattsburgh." — 
Rutland  (Vt.)  Herald. 

The  duty  on  baize  is  22^  cents  per  square  yard.  This  article, 
of  a  coarse  quality,  can  be  bought  in  England  for  6d.  per  yard, 
36  inches  wide,  that  is,  at  par,  1 1  cents  per  square  yard.  The 
duty  upon  it,  therefore,  is  200  per  cent.,  so  that  a  smuggler  can 
afford  to  run  a  good  deal  of  risk,  and  if  he  only  succeeds  in  one 
of  two  speculations,  he  makes  a  handsome  profit.  We  have  no 
doubt  that  the  smugglers  are  all  great  friends  of  the  American 
System. 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  205 

ESSAY   No.    LXVII. 

NOVEMBER  24,    1830. 

A  profitable  commerce  always  shews  an  excess  of  imparts  over 
exports.  This  proved,  by  reference  to  the  West  India  trade, 
and  the  whaling  voyages. 

THE  American  System  philosophers  having  had  one  of  the 

main  props  of  their  doctrine,  that  the  balance  of  trade  has  been 
for  years  against  the  country,  wholly  annihilated  by  the  simple 
fact,  that  we  now  import  specie  from  England,  whilst  nominal 
exchange,  supposed  by  them  to  be  real,  is  against  this  country 
six  per  cent.,  they  have  now  nothing  left  to  sustain  that  theory, 
but  the  custom-house  amount  of  imports  and  exports.  Their 
philosophy  is  this :  If  we  export  domestic  commodities  to  the 
value  of  50  millions  of  dollars,  and  import  foreign  goods  to  the 
value  of  55  millions,  the  balance  of  trade  is  against  us,  and  the 
difference  must  be  paid  in  specie,  which  drains  us  of  our  cash, 
makes  money  scarce,  and  will  inevitably  ruin  the  country.  A 
great  many  honest,  well-meaning  people  believe  this,  and  on 
that  account,  cry  out  against  foreign  commerce.  For  such  we 
will  offer  a  few  remarks,  which  any  body  can  understand,  and 
we  are  sure  that  there  is  not  a  man  in  the  land,  who  would  not 
see  the  fallacy  of  the  doctrine  we  are  combating,  if  he  would 
only  take  the  trouble  to  read  them. 

A  merchant  ships  to  the  West  Indies  1000  barrels  of  flour, 
which  cost  in  New  York  5  dollars  a  barrel,  that  is,  $5000.  The 
freight  of  the  voyage  out,  we  will  suppose,  to  be  two  dollars  per 
barrel,  and  the  insurance,  commissions,  and  other  charges,  to 
amount  to  one  dollar  per  barrel  more.  Unless,  therefore,  the 
merchant  can  sell  his  flour  at  8  dollars  per  barrel,  he  will 
lose  by  the  shipment,  and  we  will  accordingly  suppose  that  he 
sells  his  cargo  for  $8000.  This  amount  he  invests  in  sugar, 
coffee,  rum,  molasses,  or  something  else,  and  brings  home.  But 
he  must  pay  freight,  insurance,  and  commissions  on  these  arti- 
cles also,  or,  if  he  owns  the  vessel,  he  must  incur  expenses  in 
navigating  her,  equivalent  or  nearly  equivalent  to  the  freight. 
These  additional  expenses  we  will  estimate  at  a  sum  equal  to 
two  dollars  per  barrel,  and  it  will  then  appear,  that,  in  order  to 
make  a  saving  voyage,  the  merchant  must  sell  his  return  cargo 
for  $10,000.  But  in  such  case,  we  should  have  on  the  custom- 
house books,  an  export  of  $5000,  and  an  import  of  $  10,000,  and 
according  to  the  Peter  and  Paul  theory,  we  should  have  to  ex- 
port $5000  in  specie  to  pay  the  balance.  But  what  if  the  mer- 
chant had  made  a  clear  profit  besides  of  $1000,  Then  there 
would  have  been  a  balance  of  trade  against  us  of  $G000.  Tru- 
ly this  is  a  droll  sort  of  argument  to  be  seriously  employed, 
S 


206  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

and  yet  droll  as  it  is,  it  is  one  of  the  strongest  arguments  relied 
upon  by  the  supporters  of  the  American  System.  According 
to  their  political  arithmetic,  the  more  ruinous  the  voyage,  the 
more  advantageous  to  the  country.  If,  say  they,  the  outward 
cargo  which  cost  $5000  should  be  sold  at  such  a  price  as  that 
only  $4000  worth  of  commodities  should  be  received  in  return 
for  it,  the  balance  of  trade  would  be  in  favour  of  the  country, 
because  more  was  exported  than  was  imported,  and  conse- 
quently we  should  receive  $  1000  in  specie  in  payment  of  the 
balance. 

Again  :  A  ship  is  fitted  out  at  New  Bedford  to  go  to  the  South 
Seas  upon  a  whaling  or  a  sealing  voyage,  having  on  board  no 
cargo  but  staves  for  the  oil  casks,  and  stores  to  feed  the  crew 
for  a  three  years'  cruise,  worth  $  10,000.  She  brings  home  oil 
worth  $30,000,  or  she  takes  her  seal  skins  to  China  and  brings 
home  teas  .ind  silks  worth  $50,000.  "  This  is  a  dreadful  ruin- 
ous business,"  say  the  balance  of  trade  men.  "  We  import 
more  than  we  export."  They  make  no  account  of  the  Ameri- 
can industry  employed  in  harpooning  whales,  or  in  knocking 
the  seals  over  w4th  clubs.  The  sort  of  voyages  they  require  to 
enrich  the  nation,  are  losing  voyages,  for  the  more  oil  or  tea 
that  should  be  thus  imported,  the  greater  would  be  the  balance 
against  us.  We  have  known  in  our  life  time  two  voyages  that 
came  precisely  up  to  the  requirements  of  the  American  System. 
The  export  in  one  case  was  100  barrels  of  corn  meal  to  the 
West  Indies,  and  in  the  other,  1000  barrels  of  flour  to  Lima, 
shipped  on  freight.  In  both  cases  the  shipment  sold  for  less 
than  the  amount  of  freight  and  charges.  The  shippers  lost  all 
their  capital,  and  were  brought  in  debt  besides,  but  it  was  ne- 
vertheless a  glorious  issue  for  the  commerce  of  the  country. 
There  was  a  considerable  export,  and  no  import ;  consequently 
there  was  a  balance  of  trade  in  favour  of  the  country,  to  be  paid 
in  specie.  We  think,  however,  it  would  puzzle  a  wiser  man 
than  some  of  our  restrictive  philosophers,  to  tell  by  whom  the 
balance  was  to  be  paid. 

Reader,  the  cases  referred  to  here  are  but  an  epitome  of  the 
whole  commerce  of  the  country.  If  the  commerce  is  profita- 
ble, the  amount  of  imports  must  needs  appear  on  the  custom- 
house books  greater  than  the  amount  of  exports.  But  in  reality 
the  custom-house  statements  are  far  from  being  conclusive  on 
the  subject.  A  great  deal  of  coin  is  imported  in  small  parcels 
which  is  not  entered  at  the  custom-house,  and  a  great  many  ar- 
ticles are,  and  have  been  at  all  times,  smuggled.  One  thing, 
however,  is  certain,  and  that  is,  that  no  nation  can,  for  any 
length  of  time,  import  more  than  she  exports.  Commerce,  in 
the  long  run,  is  an  exchange  of  equal  values,  and  although  in 
one  year  more  may  be  exported  than  imported,  or,  vice  versa, 
yet  there  is  a  constant  tendency  to  equilibrium,  and  that  equi- 


OP    FREE     TRADE.  207 

librium  is  ascertained  better  by  the  operation  of  real  exchange, 
than  by  any  documents  that  can  possibly  be  collected. 


ESSAY     No.   L  XVI 1 1. 


NOVEMBER  24,   1830. 


The  sugar  duty.  Probable  effect  upon  the  price  of  sugar  through- 
out the  trading  world,  if  that  duty  were  abolished.  Probable 
effect  upon  the  sugar-planting  interest  of  Louisiana. 

THE  following  article  upon  the  subject  of  the  duty  on  su- 
gar, is  extracted  from  a  Mississippi  paper,  the  Natchez  Ga- 
zette : 

"  Mr.  Editor — You  will  oblige  a  Planter  of  Adams  County, 
by  publishing  the  following  extract  from  a  letter,  received  by  the 
mail  of  last  week,  from  a  gentleman  (now  in  the  north)  who 
owns  a  large  sugar  estate  in  Louisiana ;  addressed  to  his  friend 
in  this  neighbourhood. 

"  '  I  thank  you  for  your  opinions  about  sugar,  and  your  ad- 
vice to  sell  my  estate,  in  consequence  of  the  probability  of  a  re- 
peal of  the  duty  on  sugar.  I  cannot  bring  my  mind  to  the  same 
conclusion.  A  repeal  of  the  duty  would  be  no  saving  to  the  con- 
sumers in  the  U.  States — it  would  only  ruin  Louisiana,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  W.  Indies  ;  inasmuch  as  the  planters  of  Louisiana 
would  have  to  turn  their  attention  and  their  capital  to  cotton 
and  provisions  :  and  the  product  would  consequently  be  so  much 
diminished  in  two  or  three  years,  that  the  price  would  advance 
in  the  West  Indies,  and  would  command  higher  prices  here  than 
our  sugar  now  does.  Our  best  informed  iron  masters  were  op- 
posed to  the  last  additional  duty  on  iron,  fearing  home  compe- 
tition more  than  foreign.  The  result  shows  their  fears  were 
well  founded,  for  there  is  a  considerable  decline  in  the  price  of 
the  home  article. 

"  Would  it  not  be  cruel  now,  after  encouraging  the  investment 
of  so  much  capital  in  sugar  estates,  to  reduce  the  duties,  and 
thereby  prostrate  all  the  new  establishments  I  if  the  protection 
is  continued,  in  a  few  years,  more  will  be  raised  in  the  United 
States,  than  will  be  required  for  consumption ;  and  the  price 
must  be  reduced  by  domestic  competition,  to  the  lowest  sum 
for  which  it  can  be  produced. 

"  As  regards  myself,  I  cannot  be  a  great  sufferer,  if  the  duty 
is  repealed ;  for  I  am,  fortunately,  out  of  debt,  and  can  devote 
one  half  of  my  cleared  land  to  the  culture  of  cotton  and  provi- 
sions.    That  part  of  it,  wliich  has  been  in  cultivation  in  cane 


208  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

for  some  years,  can  be  greatly  improved  by  two  or  three  crops 
of  peas,  ploughed  in,  in  the  winter  ;  and  on  the  remainder,  I  can 
make  60  or  80  hogsheads  of  sugar,  merely  to  keep  my  hands 
accustomed  to  the  culture  and  manufacture.  I  have  no  fear 
that,  by  the  time  my  poor  land  is  restored  by  two  or  three  crops 
of  peas,  the  price  of  sugar  will  be  10  cents  by  the  crop,  instead 
of  6  or  6|,  which  we  now  get ;  and  I  will  then  be  prepared  to 
push  the  culture  to  the  extent  of  my  means.  If  I  should  then 
desire  to  sell,  I  doubt  not  I  shall  get  a  much  better  price  for  my 
estate  than  I  can  now  realize. 

"  If  my  recollection  serves  me,  the  crop  of  Louisiana  sugar, 
in  1816,  was  but  16  or  17,000  hogsheads;  then  the  price  was 
10  to  12^  cents.  I  believe  the  crop  of  the  present  year,  is  esti- 
mated at  80,000  hogsheads.  If  only  half  the  new  establishments 
are  converted  into  cotton  estates,  the  price  of  sugar  would  not 
be  much  reduced  by  a  repeal  of  the  duty.  The  consumption  is 
increasing  daily,  and  will  be  greatly  accelerated  by  the  repeal 
of  the  duty  on  tea  and  coflee  ;  so  that,  in  another  year,  if  the 
crop  is  diminished  20  or  30,000  hogsheads,  by  the  repeal  of  the 
sugar  duty,  the  price  will  rather  advance  than  decline. 

"  I  should  think  there  was  much  more  to  be  apprehended  by 
the  cotton  planter  from  a  repeal  of  this  duty,  than  by  the  sugar 
growers — for,  the  inevitable  result  will  be,  to  increase  the  pro- 
duct of  cotton  greatly  beyond  the  consumption,  and  thereby 
create  a  glut  in  the  market,  which  must  reduce  the  price.  I 
would,  therefore,  advise  you  to  sell  your  cotton  estate,  and  hold 
your  funds  for  a  year  or  two,  and  then  invest  in  a  sugar  estate, 
which  will  probably,  at  that  period,  be  bought  for  one-third  less 
than  thej^  now  can.  If  you  do  this,  by  the  time  you  get  your  su- 
gar estate  fairly  under  way,  I  have  not  a  doubt  it  will  pay  you 
well,  for  the  price  of  sugar  must  then  be  at  least  8  if  not  10 
cents. ' " 

It  would  seem  from  the  foregoing,  that  the  sugar  planters  of 
Louisiana  have  the  faculty  of  lulling  themselves  into  the  same 
fatal  security  which  is  so  generally  displayed  by  the  Northern 
manufacturers.  Some  of  them  suppose  that  the  duty  on  sugar 
is  in  no  danger  of  being  reduced ;  and  what  is  a  little  extraor- 
dinary, they  found  this  belief  upon  the  notion  that  the  consu- 
mers of  sugar  will  be  deterred  from  reducing  it,  through  the 
fear  that  the  price  of  the  foreign  article  will  be  raised  upon 
them,  should  the  culture  in  this  country  be  materially  diminish- 
ed. To  let  these  gentlemen  see  that  the  consumers  understand 
this  subject  too  well  to  be  led  into  an  abandonment  of  their 
rights,  we  shall  take  the  liberty  of  dissecting  the  letter  in  ques- 
tion. 

The  duty  on  brown  sugar  is  three  cents  per  pound,  which  is 
about  equal  to  its  first  cost  in  the  West  Indies,  and  is,  therefore, 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  209 

100  per  cent.    The  present  price  of  sugar  at  New  York  is  as 
follows : 

Havanna  brown  7^  to  8^  dolls,  per  100  lbs. 

Muscovado       7    to  8  do. 

Porto  Rico  7     to  8^  do. 

Brazil  brown  6^  to  8  do. 

Now,  if  any  merchant  wishes  to  buy  sugar  for  exportation, 
he  can  procure  it  just  as  readily  for  the  above  prices,  with  a  de- 
duction of  three  cents  per  pound,  as  any  grocer  can,  for  home 
consumption,  buy  it  at  the  full  prices  named.  This,  then,  set- 
tles the  question,  as  to  the  fact  that  sugar,  if  there  was  no  duty 
on  it,  can  be  imported  and  sold  at  from  3^  to  5^  cents  per 
pound.  But,  it  is  supposed,  that  if  the  duty  were  reduced,  the 
increased  demand  made  upon  the  West  Indies  and  Brazil,  ow- 
ing to  the  diminution  of  the  home  production,  would  occasion 
a  rise  in  price  to  8  or  10  cents.  To  suppose  such  an  efiect, 
would  require  that  this  increased  demand  should  bear  a  very 
great  proportion  to  the  total  demand  for  sugar  existing  in  the 
commercial  world.  Now  let  us  see  what  this  proportion  would 
be.  The  crop  of  the  present  year  in  Louisiana  is  estimated  at 
80,000  hogsheads,  equal,  according  to  the  common  estimate,  to 
1000  lbs.  per  hogshead,  making  in  all  80,000,000  lbs.  The 
proposition  then  is,  that  an  increased  demand  upon  all  the  su- 
gar growing  countries  in  the  world,  including  the  East  Indies, 
China,  and  Manilla,  (which  now  supply  800  millions  of  people 
with  sugar,)  for  the  consumption  of  12  millions  of  persons, 
would  have  the  effect  of  raising  it  from  3^  and  5^  cents  per  lb. 
to  8  or  10.  The  idea  is  preposterous,  and  cannot  be  entertain- 
ed for  a  single  moment  by  any  man  who  will  reflect  on  the 
subject. 

This  statement  of  the  question,  it  must  be  observed,  is  the 
fairest  possible  one  for  the  writer  of  this  letter ;  for,  had  we 
been  pressed  within  narrow  limits,  we  should  have  stated,  that 
this  increased  demand  was  only  to  supply  a  little  more  than 
one  half  of  the  demand  of  the  United  States,  say  that  of  eight 
millions  of  people.  We  already  import  60,000,000  pounds  of 
sugar,  and  make  besides  a  large  quantity  from  the  maple.  And 
now,  let  us  ask,  what  effect  would  be  produced  upon  the  sugar 
markets  of  the  world,  by  an  increase  of  demand  arising  from 
the  addition  of  one  new  consumer  to  every  one  hundred?  We 
apprehend,  just  about  as  much  as  would  be  produced  in  the 
price  of  flour,  if  there  was  an  increased  demand  for  one  barrel 
to  every  hundred.  And  all  this  too  is  argued  upon  the  suppo- 
sition that  the  quantity  of  sugar  made  in  the  world  could  not  be 
increased.  But  what  is  the  fact  in  reference  to  this  point  ?  Why, 
that  the  West  Indies  alone  could  produce  this  additional  quan- 
tity, without  scarcely  feeling  the  new  demand.  As  proof  of 
this,  we  submit  the  following 
S* 


210  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

Statement  of  tlie  quantity  of  Sugar  imported  into  Great  Britain 
in  the  ten  following  years,  from  the  British  W.Indies  alone. 

CWTS. 

1819,  3,785,434 

1820,  3,623,319 

1821,  3,734,292 

1822,  3,303,698 


1813, 

CWTS. 

3,500,000 

1814, 

3,403,793 

1815, 

3,493,110 

1816, 

3,440,595 

1817, 

3,563,741 

1818, 

3,662,520 

35,513,508 

Equal,  upon  an  average,  to  3,551,350  cwts.  or  397,751,200  lbs., 
that  is,  near  five  times  the  new  quantity  demanded.  Any  one 
■who  knows  how  the  British  West  Indies  have  been  kept  down 
in  their  production,  by  the  colonial  system,  will  have  no  diffi- 
culty in  perceiving  how  readily  an  increased  demand  for  eighty 
millions  of  pounds  could  be  supplied. 

But,  after  all,  would  the  cultivation  of  sugar  be  abandoned  in 
Louisiana,  if  the  duty  were  reduced  ?  We  do  not  believe  it 
would,  and  for  the  following  reasons. 

First.  Capital  was  turned  of  its  own  accord  to  the  cultiva- 
tion of  sugar,  at  a  time  when  the  existing  duty  of  2^  cents  a 
pound  did  not  aflbrd  a  protection  of  fifty  per  cent.  At  the  pe- 
riod referred  to  by  the  letter  writer,  when  sugar  was  at  ten  to 
twelve  and  a  half  cents  per  lb.  the  foreign  cost  was  at  least^ue 
cents  for  what  now  is  procured  at  three.  The  protection  was 
therefore  at  that  period  only  half  what  it  is  now,  and  it  is  very 
clear,  that  if  the  cultivation  of  sugar  was  sufficiently  profitable 
to  invite  investments  when  the  experience  of  the  planters  in  that 
species  of  agriculture  was  extremely  limited,  it  must  continue 
so,  under  the  same  ad  valorem  rate  of  duty,  now  that  the  plant- 
ers have  had  fourteen  years'  experience. 

Secondly.  A  great  portion  of  the  land  of  Louisiana  is  better 
adapted  to  the  cultivation  of  sugar,  than  any  thing  else,  and 
would  yield  a  greater  income  to  its  proprietor,  planted  with 
cane,  even  under  a  reduced  duty  on  sugar,  than  if  planted  with 
cotton. 

But  even  if  this  were  not  the  case,  the  idea  of  maintaining  a 
monopoly  of  so  great  magnitude,  as  that  of  the  cultivation  of 
sugar,  must  be  abandoned.  The  tax  oi  four  millions  of  dollars 
now  paid,  is  too  much  to  be  imposed  upon  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  the  sugar  plant- 
ers. Estimating  the  labour  of  each  hand  engaged  in  the  culti- 
vation of  sugar  at  the  moderate  rate  of  $112  per  annum,  the 
amount  of  1600  lbs.  of  sugar,  at  7  cents  per  pound,  the  whole 
number  required  to  produce  80,000,000  pounds,  would  be  but 
50,000 ;  and  if  for  the  support  of  these  50,000  hands,  a  tax  is 
laid  upon  the  people  of  three  cents  a  pound  upon  the  140  mil- 
lions of  pounds  consumed  by  them,  it  amounts  to  a  bounty  of 
$80  upon  every  hand.    And  for  doing  what?  Why,  for  making 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  211 

a  quantity  of  sugar,  that  can  positively  be  purchased  abroad 
for  a  great  deal  less  money  than  the  bounty  alone ;  for  80  mil- 
lions of  pounds  can  be  bought  for  three  cents  a  pound,  which 
would  be  but  $2,400,000,  while  the  bounty  paid  on  raising  an 
equal  quantity  is  $4,200,000.  These  are  facts,  and  they  are 
facts  worth  a  thousand  theories,  and  we  challenge  a  refutation 
of  them.  As  to  the  reference  to  the  case  of  the  high  duty  on 
iron,  it  is  a  most  unfortunate  one  for  the  planter  in  question,  and 
shows  how  little  he  is  acquainted  with  matters  upon  which  his 
interest  so  greatly  depends.  The  iron  masters,  notwithstanding 
that  the  price  of  iron  is  lower  than  it  formerly  was,  make  the 
sugar  planters  pay  two  or  three  prices  for  every  pound  of  iron 
that  they  buy  for  their  mills  and  machinery,  and  by  that  means 
get  back  the  tax  they  pay  on  their  sugar,  which  the  mass  of  the 
community  are  not  enabled  to  do. 

As  regards  the  sage  remark,  that  the  abolition  of  the  duty  on 
raw  cotton,  would  do  more  injury  to  the  cotton  planters,  than 
the  reduction  of  the  duty  on  sugar  would  do  to  the  sugar  plant- 
ers, we  can  only  say,  that  we  should  be  glad  to  see  them  both 
in  the  same  bill,  and  we  will  venture  to  say,  that  if  the  repre- 
sentatives from  Louisiana  will  at  the  next  session  of  Congress 
offer  to  join  the  representatives  from  South  Carohna,  Virginia, 
North  Carolina,  Georgia,  Tennessee,  Mississippi,  and  Alabama, 
in  a  voluntary  sacrifice  upon  the  altar  of  the  country's  peace 
and  prosperity,  the  sugar  duty,  the  others  will  cheerfully  ofier 
upon  the  same  altar  the  cotton  duty. 


ESSAY    No.    L  X I  X. 


NOVEMBER  24,    1830. 


Fallacy  of  supposing  that  the  mere  exportation  of  cotton  fabrics, 
is  proof  that  ice  can  undersell  the  British  in  foreign  markets, 
proved  by  the  fact  that  ire  export  foreign  goods  burthened 
with  all  the  expenses  of  importation  into  the  United  States. 

THE  tariff  party  assert,  that  the  fact  of  our  exporting  cotton 
fabrics,  is  conclusive  proof  that  we  can  undersell  the  British  in 
foreign  markets.  In  refutation  of  this  doctrine,  we  have  shown, 
that  the  same  argument  might  be  applied  with  equal  force  to  our 
exportation  of  foreign  goods  imported  into  this  country  saddled 
with  freight,  insurance,  commissions,  and  profits  ;  and  yet  no  one 
would  believe  that  we  could  meet  the  producers  of  those  articles 
in  foreign  markets  upon  equal  terms.  Who  would  say,  that 
because  we  export  British  manufactures  to  the  West  Indies  and 
South  America,  we  can  undersell  the  British  themselves  in  the 


212  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

same  articles,  who  have  but  one  set  of  expenses  to  encounter  ? 
No  one,  certainly,  who  would  examine  the  subject. 

But  we  have  a  stronger  argument  still  than  this.  We  can 
shew,  that  the  amount  of  foreign  goods  exported  from  this 
country,  upon  which  not  only  the  expenses  of  freight,  insurance, 
and  commissions  have  been  incurred,  but  even  the  charge  of 
our  ou-n  import  duty  besides,  has  been  annually  greater  than  the 
value  of  all  the  domestic  cotton  goods  exported. 

By  Waterson  &  Vanzandt's  Statistical  Tables,  it  appears 
that  the  value  of  the  foreign  goods  imported  into  this  country, 
ichich  paid  duties,  and  were  exported  during  the  seven  years 
ending  with  1827,  without  any  drawback,  was  as  follows : 


In    1821,  $0,981,723 

1822,  1,104,710 

1823,  1,287,571 

1824,  1,348,147 


In    1825,        $1,309,590 

1826,  1,168,496 

1827,  881,271 
$8,081,508 


It  thus  appears,  that  during  those  seven  years,  there  was  an 
average  exportation  to  the  amount  of  $1,154,501,  of  foreign 
goods,  burthened  with  all  the  charges  of  import  and  our  duties 
besides.  Now,  would  any  man  argue,  that  the  mere  fact  of  this 
exportation  was  proof  that  we  could  undersell  in  foreign  mar- 
kets the  very  producers  themselves  of  these  commodities?  If 
fe^  not,  there  is  an  end  of  the  other  position  as  an  argument.  That 
'  cottons  may  sometimes  be  sold  in  South  America  to  a  profit,  is 
not  denied ;  but  that  is  not  owing  to  our  meeting  the  British  in 
competition,  but  to  our  not  meeting  them.  It^  is  because  we 
happen  to  pop  upon  a  scanty  market,  where  goods  have  risen 
in  consequence  of  a  scarcity  ;  and  as  our  geographical  position 
gives  us  an  advantage  in  this  respect  over  the  Europeans,  we 
turn  it  to  account,  precisely  as  we  do  with  the  foreign  goods 
which  w^e  exportP"  But  although  we  sometimes  hit  it,  we  often- 
er  miss  it,  except  with  those  articles  in  which  we  have  an  advan- 
tage over  other  nations,  which  we  certainly  have  not  with  cot- 
ton goods,  or  with  any  article  that  has  paid  a  duty  at  our  cus- 
tom-house that  is  not  refunded.  Our  geographical  position,  in 
reference  to  the  West  Indies  and  South  America,  is  of  incal- 
culable value  to  the  United  States.  It  gives  us  exactly  the  same 
sort  of  advantage  that  a  tradesman  possesses,  whose  customers 
are  near  him,  over  one  whose  customers  are  at  a  distance.  Half 
the  woi-ld  live  so  much  from  hand  to  mouth,  that  when  they 
want  a  thing,  they  cannot  wait  a  long  time  for  it,  and  would 
rather  pay  more  than  send  a  great  distance  for  it.  Wnstead  of 
making  the  most  of  this  position,  our  law  makers  are  absolutely 
counteracting  the  beneficient  designs  of  nature,  by  the  adoption 
of  laws  which  put  it  out  of  our  power  to  have  on  hand  in  this 
country  large  stocks  of  foreign  goods,  waiting  ready  for  the 
first  chance  of  an  opening  in  the  neighbouring  markets/;^ 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  213 


ESSAY    No.    LXX. 

'  NOVEMBER    24,    1830. 

Mischief  likely  to  result  from  forcing  the  construction  of  canals 
and  rail  roads.     True  nature  of  capital  described. 

AFTER  the  awful  scourging  which  the  people  of  the  United 
States  experienced  from  the  mania  for  banks  that  prevailed 
some  sixteen  years  ago,  it  is  a  little  remarkable,  that  they  have 
not  been  led  to  reflect  upon  the  danger  of  applying  \he  forcing 
principle  to  other  matters  quite  as  likely  to  result  in  disaster. 
At  the  period  we  refer  to,  banks  were  brought  into  unnatural 
existence  for  the  purpose  oi forcing  the  manufacture  of  money, 
and  in  precisely  the  same  manner  as  the  tariff  was  brought  into 
unnatural  existence  for  the  purpose  o{ forcing  the  manufacture 
of  certain  descriptions  of  goods.  They  were  both  the  offspring 
of  what  is  called  log-rolling,  and  were  effected  by  combinations 
founded  upon  the  erroneous  principles  that  two  wrongs  could 
make  a  right.  Of  forty  banks  authorized  in  Pennsylvania,  in 
1814,  not  one  could  have  obtained  a  charter  upon  its  individual 
claims  ;  and  of  the  hundred  or  more  taxes  on  foreign  merchan- 
dise, imposed  by  what  are  called  our  protective  laws,  not  one 
could  ever  have  found  a  majority  of  Congress  to  support  it,  un- 
connected with  others.  The  banking  system  occasioned  the  loss 
of  millions  of  dollars,  by  inviting  the  people  to  abandon  indus- 
trious pursuits  for  speculation.  The  tariff  system  has  already 
destroyed  tens  of  millions  of  dollars,  by  driving  the  industry  of 
the  people  from  more  productive  to  less  productive  pursuits. 
They  were  the  twins  of  a  common  parent,  and  had  their  origin 
in  the  avarice  of  a  few,  who  desired  to  grow  rich  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  many. 

But  there  is  another  species  of  manufacture  to  which  the 
forcing  principle  is  now  getting  applied  ;  and,  without  pretend- 
ing to  the  gift  of  prophecy,  we  foretell,  that  the  day  will  arrive 
when  the  nation  will  most  sorely  repent  of  its  establishment. 
We  allude  to  the  manufacture  of  rail  roads  and  canals.  In  ma- 
king this  assertion,  we  are  fully  aware  that  we  run  the  hazard 
of  being  denounced  as  narrow  minded,  and  as  destitute  of  the 
enlightened  views  entertained  by  the  great  statesmen  in  Con- 
gress, and  in  the  various  State  Legislatures,  upon  the  subject  of 
Internal  Im.provements.  We  cannot  however  help  that.  Si- 
mon Snyder  was  denounced  in  the  same  way  by  the  bank  ma- 
nufacturers, because  he  put  his  veto  upon  the  bill  for  creating 
the  forty  banks  above  referred  to ;  and  yet  Simon  Snyder's  in- 
dependence and  disregard  of  personal  consequences  upon  that 
occasion,  commanded  the  respect  of  the  rellecting  part  of  the 


214  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

community,  and  left  on  the  records  of  the  state  an  imperisha- 
ble monument  of  sound  and  irrefutable  reasoning.  But  to  the 
point:  How  is  it  possible  that  rail  roads  and  canals  can  do  in- 
jury to  the  public  (  Do  they  not  facilitate  intercourse  and  di- 
minish the  expenses  of  transporting  produce  to  the  market,  and 
merchandise  to  the  interior  of  the  country  1  Do  they  not  afford 
employment  to  thousands  of  labourers,  and  improve  the  value 
of  the  lands  through  which  they  pass  1  How  then  can  they,  un- 
der any  circumstances,  do  mischief?  To  reply  to  these  ques- 
tions in  a  manner  satisfactory  to  those  whose  minds  have  never 
been  directed  to  the  important  study  of  the  true  nature  of  capi- 
tal, and  the  intimate  connexion  that  subsists  between  its  judi- 
cious employment  and  the  public  prosperity,  will  be  no  easy 
matter.  Still  we  shall  attempt  to  do  it ;  and  as  our  object  is 
the  development  of  truth,  we  should  take  it  as  a  favour  if  any 
one,  who  thinks  our  logic  unsound,  would  point  out  its  errors. 
Most  people,  when  they  hear  of  capital,  think  of  money. 
When  it  is  said,  such  a  merchant  has  a  large  capital  in  trade,  it 
is  supposed  that  he  has  a  great  deal  of  money ;  and  when  it  is 
said  that  such  a  one  is  a  great  capitalist,  it  is  immediately  sup- 
posed that  he  has  a  great  quantity  of  money.  A  little  reflec- 
tion, however,  will  show,  that  what  is  meant  in  both  these  cases 
by  capital,  is  not  money,  but  money's  worth.  The  capital  of 
the  merchant  may  be,  and  generally  is,  in  merchandise  and 
ships,  or,  even  in  bills  of  exchange,  promissory  notes,  and  book 
debts,  which  are  in  reality  not  money,  but  mere  contracts  for 
the  payment  of  money.  And  so  of  the  capitalist.  If  he  be  a 
dealer  in  stocks,  the  whole  of  his  capital  may  consist  of  certi- 
ficates of  stock  in  banks,  insurance  offices,  or  the  public  funds. 
It  is  therefore  evident,  that  capital  does  not  always  mean  mo- 
ney ;  and  it  is  therefore  necessary  that  reasoners  on  this  sub- 
ject should  have  a  clear  view  of  this  fact,  in  order  to  enable  them 
to  comprehend  the  nature  of  capital.  What,  then,  is  capital  ? 
Are  the  bills  of  exchange,  promissory  notes,  book  debts,  and 
certificates  of  stocks,  capital?  We  answer,  not  in  the  strict 
sense  of  the  term ;  for  although  they  may  at  pleasure  enable 
their  owners  to  command  capital,  yet  they  are  not  capital  it- 
self. And  this  brings  us  to  the  answer.  The  capital  of  a  com- 
munity is  that  mass  of  property,  and  things  possessing  ex- 
changeable value,  which  is  made  up  of  the  private  capitals  of 
the  individuals  who  compose  the  community ;  such  as  the  lands, 
houses,  buildings,  cattle,  agricultural  implenients,  and  the  pro- 
duce, of  the  farmers;  the  ships,  merchandise,  and  gold  and  silver, 
of  the  merchants ;  and  the  factories,  machinery,  tools,  raw  ma- 
terials, and  manufactured  goods,  of  the  manufacturers  and  me- 
chanics. It  comprises,  consequently,  all  articles  necessary  for 
the  food  and  clothing,  and  comfortable  accommodation  of  man, 
as  well  as  all  the  instruments  which  he  employs  in  the  applica- 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  215 

tion  of  his  labour ;  and  when  it  is  said,  that  a  capital  of  a  mil- 
lion of  dollars  is  to  be  expended  in  a  particular  work,  this  is 
the  sort  of  capital  alluded  to,  and  not  the  mere  money  which 
acts  as  the  instrument  of  conveying  the  capital  to  the  labourers 
who  consume  it. 

Now,  every  one  may  know,  if  he  will  reflect  a  little,  that 
upon  the  abundance  or  scarcity  of  this  capital,  must  depend  the 
wealth  or  poverty  of  the  whole  people.  He  may  also  know, 
that  upon  its  judicious  application  will  necessarily  depend  the 
prosperity  of  the  public,  precisely  as  upon  the  judicious  appli- 
cation of  private  capital,  must  depend  the  prosperity  of  an  in- 
dividual family.  If,  for  example,  a  large  portion  of  the  existing 
capital  of  a  community  were  to  be  burnt  up,  or  lost  in  the  sea, 
or  ruined  by  tempests  or  wet  weather,  as  crops  sometimes  are, 
any  one  can  perceive  that  the  conmiunity  would  suffer.  Indeed, 
no  loss  whatever  can  happen  without  affecting  the  interests,  di- 
rectly or  remotely,  of  all ;  for,  although  the  loss  may  be  subse- 
quently repaired,  it  cannot  be  repaired  without  the  sacrifice  of 
a  new  capital  of  the  raw  materials,  food,  and  clothing,  consumed 
by  the  labourers  in  producing  an  article  corresponding  to  the 
one  destroyed.  This  position  is  a  beautiful  illustration  of  the 
intimate  relation  which  subsists  between  all  the  members  of  a 
community.  Each  is  benefited  by  the  prosperit}''  of  the  rest, 
and  each  is  injured  by  the  misfortune  of  either. 

It  is  not,  however,  only  by  such  causes  as  we  have  enume- 
rated that  capital  may  be  destroyed.  It  may  be  equally  anni- 
hilated by  injudicious  applications  to  roads  and  canals.  No 
road  or  canal  can  possibly  be  constructed  without  the  sacrifice 
of  a  capital  equal  to  the  value  of  the  raw  materials  and  the  la- 
bour applied  to  its  construction.  It  is  therefore  of  great  im- 
portance, in  determining  the  question  of  the  expediency  of  a 
road  or  canal,  to  ascertain  whether  the  capital  can  be  drawn 
from  other  employments,  without  occasioning  to  them  an  injury 
greater  in  amount  than  the  benefit  which  the  public  would  de- 
rive from  the  road  or  canal.  If,  for  example,  it  appear  that 
capital  employed  in  agriculture,  commerce,  or  manufactures, 
would  yield  ten  per  cent,  per  annum ;  in  order  to  render  the 
expediency  of  a  road  or  canal  unquestionable,  it  ought  to  be 
shown,  that  the  benefits  accruing  to  the  public  from  its  construc- 
tion, from  the  moment  of  its  completion,  would  be  equal  to 
more  than  ten  per  cent,  upon  the  capital  expended,  and  the  in- 
terest which  could  have  been  earned  during  the  time  the  work 
was  progressing.  Should  this  result  not  take  place ;  if,  for 
example,  the  benefits  should  only  be  equal  to  nine  per  cent, 
upon  the  capital  expended,  the  effects  on  the  community  would 
be  precisely  the  same  as  if  one  tenth  of  the  capital  had  been 
sunk  in  the  ocean ;  and  so  of  any  greater  disparity.  It  is  not 
an  answer  to  this  position  to  say,  that  at  a  future  day  the  road 


216  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

or  canal  would  produce  a  benefit  of  ten  per  cent.  If  that  be 
pretended,  there  must  be  added  to  the  capital  the  profit  it  could 
have  earned  for  the  intervening  term  of  years,  as  a  part  of  the 
real  cost ;  and  the  ten  per  cent,  must  be  yielded  upon  that  total 
sum.  It  appears  to  us  that  this  matter  is  so  clear,  as  hardly  to 
require  any  further  illustration  ;  and  as  we  are  incHned  to  think, 
from  the  wide  spreading  mania  for  internal  improvement,  which 
seems  now  to  be  raging  every  where  throughout  the  country, 
that  many  roads  and  canals  will  be  undertaken  without  refer- 
ence to  the  only  sound  principles  of  calculation  applicable  to  the 
subject,  we  are  fully  persuaded  that  an  extensive  injury  will 
ensue,  which  will  retard  the  solid  prosperity  of  the  country,  un- 
less those  who  have  the  State  Legislative  power  in  their  hands 
shall  try  to  understand  the  matter  better. 


ESSAY     No.   L  X  X  I . 

DECEMBER   1,    1830. 

The  cotton  manufacture  of  Rhode  Island.  Tax  paid  hy  the 
consumers  of  cotton  fabrics  for  the  support  of.  Probable  num- 
ber of  operatives  employed  in  the  cotton  manufacture  of  the 
United  States. 

The  following  article  is  copied  from  the  Providence  Daily 
Advertiser : 

"  Importation  of  Cotton  into  Providence. — We  have  been  fa- 
voured with  facts  upon  which  are  predicated  the  following  ac- 
curate statements,  worthy  the  attention  of  our  friends  at  the 
South.  The  amount  of  Cotton  imported  into  Providence,  the 
year  ending  the  30th  Sep.  1830,  was  42,612  bales. 

"  Stock  on  hand  the  same  day,  [being  unusually  small  for  the 
season]  as  follows : 

New  Orleans,  .         ...         929  bales 

Alabama, 145 

Uplands, 464 

Sea  Island, Ul 

Total,         1,655 
"  The  consumption  of  cotton  from  this  market,  has  been  fully 
42,000  bales,  within  the  past  year,  worth,  upon  an  average,  $40 
per  bale,  amounting  to  a  total  of  about  $1,700,000. 

"  This  cotton  has  been  manufactured  into  about  70,500,000 
yards  of  cloth,  which  was  sold  at  about  nine  cents  per  yard, 
averaging  the  different  qualities  and  prices,  thus  producing  a 
gross  sale  of  $  0,450,000. 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  217 

"  Of  this  sum  a  very  great  proportion  has  been  returned  to  the 
South,  in  payment  for  cotton  and  provisions,  leaving  to  die  ma- 
nufacturer a  reasonable  profit,  if  an  opinion  may  be  formed  from 
the  cheerful  activity  which  now  prevails  in  this  neighbourhood." 

It  appears,  from  the  foregoing  statement,  that  the  price  which 
the  manufacturers  of  Providence  pay  for  cotton  is  very  little 
less  than  the  price  it  sells  for  at  Liverpool.  Bales  of  cotton 
usually  weigh,  upon  an  average,  about  300  pounds,  and  at  $40 
per  bale,  the  price  is  about  13  cents  per  pound.  The  price  at 
Liverpool  was  not  long  since  quoted,  in  the  papers,  as  follows : 
"  Upland,  6f  to  7fd.— Orleans,  7  to  7|d.— Alabama,  63  to  7d." 
Taking  the  average  at  7{d.,  and  allowing  6  per  cent,  for  the 
exchange,  we  have  fourteen  cents  and  a  small  fraction.  One 
fact  is  therefore  conclusively  established,  by  this  statement,  and 
it  is  a  very  important  one,  viz.,  that  our  possessing  the  raw  ma- 
terial gives  an  advantage  to  the  American  manufacturer,  not 
exceeding  one  cent  per  pound — which  is  equal  to  less  than  one- 
fifth  of  a  cent  on  every  yard  manufactured,  seeing  that,  ac- 
cording to  the  Providence  statement,  one  bale  of  cotton  will 
make  1678  yards  of  cloth,  which,  estimating  300  pounds  to  the 
bale,  is  a  little  more  than  5|  yards  to  every  pound. 

But  the  most  important  fact  established  by  this  statement,  is, 
that  when  these  42,000  bales  of  cotton  leave  the  hands  of  the 
Rhode  Island  manufacturers,  they  are  charged  with  the  ex- 
penses and  profits  of  manufacturing,  amounting  to  4,750,000 
dollars ;  and,  if  any  merit  is  taken  to  the  manufacturers,  for 
sending  a  portion  of  their  cloth  to  the  South,  it  ought  to  be  shown 
that  the  South  gets  as  many  yards  of  cloth,  for  a  bale  of  cotton, 
as  she  could  get  for  it  in  other  places ;  or  otherwise  she  might 
consider  it  no  great  favour  to  be  compelled  to  deal  with  the  do- 
mestic manufacturer,  and  submit  to  his  terms.  Let  us  there- 
fore see  how  the  case  would  stand. 

A  bale  of  cotton  is  worth  $40,  and,  at  Providence,  can  be 
exchanged  for  444  yards  of  cloth,  being  at  the  rate  of  nine  cents 
per  yard.  But  the  same  bale  of  cotton  can  be  exchanged,  at 
Liverpool,  for  a  greater  number  of  yards,  and  for  the  simple 
reason,  that  cotton  cloth  is  cheaper  at  Liverpool  than  at  Provi- 
dence. That  it  is  cheaper  at  the  former,  than  at  the  latter 
place,  is  proved  conclusively,  by  the  pertinacity  with  which  the 
manufacturers  adhere  to  the  prohibitory  duty,  the  design  of 
which  is  to  stop  the  importation  of  the  low  priced  cloths,  which 
prevents  the  people  from  knowing  how  much  cheaper  they  can 
be  made  abroad  than  at  home.  It  is  also  demonstrable  from 
another  well  known  fact,  that  manufacturing  labour,  even  when 
aided  by  machinery,  is  cheaper  in  England  than  in  this  country : 
for,  as  iron,  of  which  machinery  is  made,  is  there  about  one- 
third  the  price  it  is  here,  and  as  the  labour  of  mechanics,  to  build 
machinerv,  is  cheaper  there  than  here,  it  follows  that  spinning 
T' 


218  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

and  weaving,  by  machinery,  can  both  be  performed  cheaper 
there  than  here,  to  say  nothing  of  the  superior  abundance  of 
capital,  which  reduces  the  interest  of  money  and  the  rates  of 
profits. 

But  perhaps  it  may  still  be  urged  that  this  is  not  conclusive 
— the  absolute  fact  of  the  superior  cheapness  must  be  demon- 
strated by  producing  the  article  itself,  with  a  well-authentica- 
ted invoice.  It  is  not  easy  to  find  prohibited  goods  in  a  mai'- 
ket,  but  we  have  no  doubt  that  the  same  quality  of  goods,  which 
are  stated  above  to  have  cost  upon  an  average,  nine  cents  per 
yard,  could  be  imported  and  sold,  after  paying  a  moderate  reve- 
nue duty,  at  seven  or  eight  cents.  Taking  the  latter  price, 
however,  and  estimating  the  saving  at  only  one  cent  per  yard, 
let  us  see  how  much  it  will  amount  to.  Only  705,000  dollars 
of  a  tax  laid  upon  the  consumers  of  cotton  cloth  in  the  United 
^  States,  for  the  benefit  of  a  few  capitalists  in  Rhode-Island, 
\  which  is  at  the  rate  of  $70.50  per  head  of  the  whole  cotton 
\  manufacturing  population  of  that  State,  estimating  them  at  ten 
\thousand.  Why,  it  would  be  better  to  give  them  all  a  bounty, 
men,  women,  and  children,  of  forty  dollars  a  piece,  the  sum 
allowed  to  the  Pennsylvania  revolutionary  soldiers,  than  to 
submit  to  s6  enormous  a  tax.  It  is  truly  laughable  to  see  what 
a  racket  can  be  made  by  some  editors,  about  paltry  sums  of 
$  1940,  and  such  like,  while  the  people  are  getting  their  pock- 
ets picked  of  millions,  without  being  told  of  it. — Truly  we  are 
a  nation  that  strain  ai  gnats  and  swallow  camels.  Why,  if  the 
( whole  200,000  bales  of  cotton,  supposed  to  be  consumed  in  the 
I  United  States,  were  worked  up  into  cloth,  as  the  42,000  bales 
were  in  Rhode-Island,  and  sold  at  a  single  cent  per  yard  more 
I  than  it  could  be  imported  for,  the  total  tax  would  be  $3,333, 
333.  But  we  are  quite  sure  that  neither  one  cent,  nor  two  cents 
per  yard,  would  cover  the  increased  price  which  is  paid  by  the 
consumers  of  cotton,  for  the  support  of  the  cotton  manufactur- 
ers. In  other  words,  ten  mi/lions  of  dollars  do  not  cover  the 
tax  paid  upon  this  single  item  of  protected  commodities :  and 
can  we  wonder,  therefore,  that  those  who  pocket  the  bonus, 
which  is  equal  to  $200  per  annum,  per  head,  of  fifty  thousand 
operatives — which  is  more  than  the  number  employed  in  spin- 
ning and  weaving  200,000  bales  of  cotton — should  cry  out 
most  lustily  against  those  who  are  trying  to  deprive  them  of  it? 
That  we  do  not  make  these  calculations  at  random,  we  can 
convince  our  readers,  from  the  following  exposition.  A  very 
frank  and  intelligent  gentleman,  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of 
cotton,  gave  us,  some  time  last  year,  the  following  information : 
By  the  most  improved  spinning  machinery  then  in  use,  one  per- 
son could  spin,  in  a  day,  ten  pounds  of  cotton,  into  yarn  of  the 
size  called  No.  15,  which  is  that  used  in  the  fabrication  of  what 
are  called  domestics.     These  ten  pounds  of  yarn  will  make  fifty 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  219 

yards  of  such  cloth,  of  the  width  of  thii-ty  inches,  each  pound 
being  sufficient  to  make  five  yards.  By  the  most  improved 
power-loom  machinery,  also  at  that  time  in  use,  one  person  can 
weave  fifty  yards  of  such  domestics  in  a  day  ;  so  that  the  united 
labour  of  two  persons  can  produce,  in  a  day,  from  the  raw  ma- 
terial, fifty  yards  of  cloth — or,  in  other  words,  the  labour  of 
one  person  can  produce  twenty-five  yards  in  a  day,  or  seven 
thousand  five  hundred  yards  in  a  year,  estimating  three  hun- 
dred working  days  in  that  term.  Upon  these  estimates,  it  will 
therefore  appear,  that  forty  thousand  persons  could  manufac- 
ture the  whole  200,000  bales,  if  made  into  domestics ;  but,  as 
other  qualities  are  also  made,  which  require  more  labour,  we 
have  taken  50,000  as  the  number  to  whom  it  would  be  better 
to  grant  a  bounty,  rather  than  continue  the  tax.  Should,  how- 
ever, this  number  be  deemed  too  small,  we  have  no  objections 
to  doubling  it ;  and  it  would  even  then  appear,  that  the  nation 
pays  a  tax,  for  the  support  of  the  cotton  manufacturers,  of  100 
dollars  per  head,  of  all  who  are  concerned  in  it. 


ESSAY    No.    LXXII 

DECEMBER   8,    1830. 


Remarks  upon  an  article  in  the  Encyclopaedia  Americana,  on 
the  cotton  ?nanufacture  of  the  United  States.  Reasons  why 
we  cannot  manufacture  as  cheap  as  the  British. 

IN  our  paper  of  to-day  will  be  found  a  history  of  the  Cotton 
Manufacture,  copied  from  the  "  Encyclopaedia  Americana," 
This  article,  although  evidently  drawn  up  by  one  who  does  not 
understand  the  principles  of  pohtical  economy,  and  who,  in  con- 
sequence thereof,  asserts,  as  admitted,  some  positions  not  at  all 
supported  by  the  facts  of  the  case,  is,  nevertheless,  valuable  as 
a  statistical  document.     It  shows — 

1st.  That  the  great  improvements  in  machinery,  which  have 
reduced  the  expenses  of  manufacturing  cotton,  in  Europe  and 
in  this  country,  have  principally  been  introduced  since  the  year 
1815. 

2nd.  That  the  fall  which  took  place  in  England,  between  1814 
and  1826,  was  about  55  per  cent. 

3rd.  That  the  price  of  cotton  fabrics  in  1829,  was  less  than 
one-third  of  the  price  in  1815. 

4th.  That  Great  Britain  exported,  in  1828,  cotton  yarns,  and 
other  manufactures,  to  the  value  of  £17,045,638  sterUng;  and 
that  the  total  annual  value  of  the  cotton  manufactured  by  her 


220  ESSAYS    OxN    THE    PRINCIPLES 

has  been  eslimatcd  by  some  at  £30,000,000  sterling,  equal  to 
$170,000,000,  estimating  exchange  at  ()|  per  cent  advance. 

5th.  That  the  price  of  raw  cotton  is  now  only  about  one- 
third  of  what  it  was  in  1815. 

Otii.  That  one  person  can  attend  two  or  three  machines, 
which  will  produce,  each,  from  thirty  to  forty  yards  of  cloth 
per  day. 

There  is,  however,  one  manifest  error  in  the  statement,  which 
is,  in  estimating  the  consumption  of  cotton,  in  the  United  States, 
at  85,000,000  pounds,  and  supposing  that  quantity  capable  only 
of  producing  140,000,000  yards  of  cloth.  The  common  esti- 
mates have  carried  the  consumption  beyond  200,000  bales  of 
300  pounds — that  is  60,000,000  lbs. — and  any  person  who  will 
take  the  trouble  of  weighing  a  yard  of  domestic  muslin,  will  as- 
certain that  it  does  not  exceed  one-fifth  of  a  pound.  Even  sheet- 
ings would  not  come  up  to  the  requirements  of  this  writer,  and 
canvass  would  not  much,  if  any,  exceed  them. — The  quantity  of 
140,000,000  yards  is  probably  underrated,  but  even  supposmg 
it  to  be  300,000,000,  equal,  upon  an  average,  to  25  yards  per 
head  of  the  whole  population,  the  quantity  of  raw  cotton  requi- 
site to  manufacture  that  number  of  yards  would  not  equal  the 
quantity  stated. 

As  to  the  idea  of  America  "pouring  back  upon  Asia"  her 
original  manufacture,  it  is  altogether  groundless.  In  our  paper 
of  the  3d  ultimo  we  showed,  from  official  documents,  that  the 
total  value  of  cotton  fabrics  exported  to  all  countries  east  of  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  during  the  four  yearn  commencing  with 
1826  and  ending  with  1829,  was  but  $93,159,  not  enough  to 
make  a  cargo  for  a  schooner.  In  estimating  the  annual  export, 
to  all  parts  of  the  world,  at  10,000,000  yards,  (which  are  worth 
about  $1,000,000,)  the  writer  is  correct  enough,  but.  as  to 
the  idea  of  a  successful  competition  being  carried  on  with  Great 
Britain,  in  foreign  countries,  it  is  wholly  fallacious. — This  fal- 
lacy is  even  deducible  from  this  article  itself;  for,  if  it  be  true, 
as  asserted,  that  "  neither  capital  nor  labour,  employed"  in 
the  cotton  manufacture,  in  England,  receive  a  fair  remune- 
ration, it  is  clear  that  they  can  undersell  us,  owing  to  the  su- 
perior cheapness  of  capital  and  labour  enjoyed  by  them.  Be- 
sides, an  export  of  one  million  of  dollars  does  not  look  much 
like  a  successful  competition  with  a  nation  which  exports  an- 
nually, cotton  fabrics  to  eighty  times  the  amount. 

It  is  a  pity  that  the  statistical  collectors  would  not  confine 
themselves  to  their  proper  vocation,  and  avoid  meddling  with 
political  economy,  which  they  do  not  understand.  By  so  do- 
ing, they  would  be  useful  in  their  employments,  and  would  not 
be  instrumental,  as  they  are,  in  leading  people  into  error,  by 
their  false  assumptions  and  deductions.  Tnc  writer  of  this  ar- 
ticle, in  the  Encyclopoedia,  is  particularly  obnoxious  to  the  im- 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  221 

putation  of  not  having  stuck  to  his  last — and,  as  he  has  under- 
taken to  philosophize,  and  as  his  piece  has  been  pretty  exten- 
sively circulated,  we  shall  devote  a  little  further  time  to  the  ex- 
amination of  his  doctrines. 

He  says :  "  It  is  thought  that  the  possession  of  the  raw  ma- 
terial on  the  spot,  and  the  use  of  the  comparatively  cheap  mo- 
ving power  of  water,  instead  of  steam,  with  the  proximity  of 
the  great  markets  of  South  America,  are  advantages  in  favour 
of  the  United  States,  more  than  sufficient  to  counterbalance 
some  disadvantage  in  the  higher  cost  of  machinery,  and,  as  is 
commonly  supposed,  in  the  higher  wages  of  labour ;  but,  the 
labour  in  the  cotton  mills,  producing  these  goods,  being  wholly 
performed  by  females,  has  been  ascertained  not  to  be  dearer 
than  the  same  description  of  work,  in  England ;  and,  as  it  is 
not  easily  applicable  to  any  other  branch  of  industry,  it  would 
seem  not  improbable  that  this  country  will  be  the  future  source 
of  supply,  in  coarse  cottons,  for  foreign  markets."  Now,  if 
there  be  any  truth  in  the  account  current  here  drawn  between 
the  advantages  enjoyed  in  this  country,  and  those  enjoyed  in 
England,  showing  a  balance  in  our  favour,  we  should  like  to  be 
told  why  it  is,  that  the  manufacturers  of  cotton  goods  do  not 
come  forward,  honestly  confess  that  they  can  underwork  the 
British,  and  propose  a  reduction  of  the  duty.  Would  not  such 
a  course  go  far  to  allay  the  excitement  which  exists  against 
this  branch  of  business,  and  which  is  founded  in  a  belief  that 
the  nation  pays  a  tax  of  ten  millions  of  dollars  for  the  benefit 
of  the  master-manufacturers,  equal  to  two  hundred  dollars  a 
head  upon  the  whole  number  of  men,  women,  and  children, 
employed  in  manufacturing  200,000  bales  ? 

But,  no.  We  see  not  the  slightest  indication  of  a  concilia- 
tory spirit  on  this  point.  The  receivers  of  ten  millions  of  dol- 
lars annually,  from  the  consumers  of  cotton  goods,  ivithout  an 
equivalent,  are  not  so  generous  as  some  folks  are,  with  other 
people's  money.  They  will  never  voluntarily  consent  to  give 
up  one  dime  of  it,  even  for  the  sake  of  restoring  harmony  to 
the  country  ;  and,  when  the  duty  is  reduced,  as  assuredly  it 
will  be,  before  the  lapse  of  many  years,  it  will  be  altogether 
owing  to  the  perseverance  of  their  adversaries,  who  are  now 
struggling  to  regain  their  lost  property.  But  let  us  briefly 
weigh  the  items  of  this  account  current. 

The  American  manufacturer  has  the  advantage  of  the  raw 
material.  And  what  is  the  value  of  this  advantage  l  The  diflcr- 
ence  in  freight  from  Charleston,  Savannah,  or  New  Orleans,  to 
Liverpool,  and  from  the  same  places  to  Baltimore,  Philadelphia, 
New  York,  Providence,  or  Boston,  does  not  exceed  one  cent 
per  pound,  and  is  very  often  not  more  than  half  a  cent ;  and 
any  one  who  will  examine  the  prices  current  of  all  the  places 
named,  will  see,  that  two  cents  per  pound  will  cover  the  ave- 


222  ESSAYS     ON    THE     PRINCIPLES 

rage  difference  of  prices  quoted  in  our  Northern  cities  and  at 
Liverpool.  Now,  as  one  pound  of  cotton  will  make  five  .yards 
of  the  common  coarse  shirtings,  and  perhaps  more  of  the  finer 
class  of  fabrics,  it  is  clear  that  the  advantage  of  possessing  the 
raw  material  is  not  equal  to  one  half  of  a  cent  -per  yard. 

The  American  manufacturer  has  also  the  advantage  of  cheap 
water  power,  whilst  the  British  uses  steam  power.  Of  the  im- 
portance of  this  advantage,  we  have  no  practical  information, 
to  enable  us  to  judge;  but,  taking  the  estimate  of  our  writer  as 
the  basis  of  a  calculation,  and  supposing  that  one  person  can  tend 
machines  that  will  produce,  say  eighty  to  one  hundred  yards  of 
cloth  in  a  day,  the  difference  on  each  yard,  resulting  from  the 
employment  of  water  power  instead  of  steam  power,  can  be  but 
a  small  fraction.  But  we  doubt  altogether  the  assumption  of  the 
superior  cheapness  of  the  water  power  of  this  country,  over  the 
steam  power  of  England.  Water  power  is  not  procurable  for 
nothing.  It  is  attended  with  the  expenses  of  constructing  and 
repairing  dams,  races,  and  flood-gates,  and  with  obstructions 
arising  from  ice  and  freshets.  Steam  engines  in  England,  can 
be  made  with  comparatively  little  expense,  owing  to  the  cheap- 
ness of  iron,  which  is  one-third  the  price  it  is  here,  and  fuel  is 
less  than  the  price  we  are  accustomed  to  pay  for  it  in  our  At- 
lantic manufacturing  cities,  as  is  shown  by  the  importations  of 
coal  from  England,  under  a  duty  of  six  cents  per  bushel,  in  ad- 
dition to  the  charges  of  freight,  insurance,  &c.  Upon  this  point, 
however,  we  shall  seek  for  some  practical  information,  and 
would  be  glad  if  any  of  our  correspondents,  who  are  acquaint- 
ed with  the  subject,  would  give  us  a  comparative  view  of  the 
economical  advantages  of  water  power  and  steam  power. 

The  American  manufacturer  has  also  the  advantage  of  the 
proximity  of  the  South  American  market.  This  is  undoubted- 
ly true,  but  it  produces  no  sort  of  effect  whatever,  upon  his  pow- 
er to  make  the  fabric  cheaper.  It  might,  with  as  much  pro- 
priety, be  urged,  that  the  proximity  of  Canada  was  a  great 
benefit  to  the  sugar  planters  of  Louisiana,  in  enabling  them  to 
raise  sugar  cheaper ;  but  any  one  can  see,  that,  unless  a  domes- 
tic article  can  compete  with  a  foreign  one,  on  the  spot  where 
it  is  produced,  it  is  impossible  that  it  can  do  it  in  any  foreign 
market,  however  near.  The  proximity  of  South  America  to 
the  United  States  is  undoubtedly  a  great  advantage  to  the  lat- 
ter, not  in  enabling  us  to  manufacture  cheaper,  but  in  offering 
a  steady  market  for  those  commodities  in  which  we  have  an 
advantage  over  other  nations,  and  temporary  markets  for  those 
foreign  commodities  of  which  we  may  happen  to  be  apprised 
of  a  scarcity,  before  a  knowledge  of  it  can  reach  our  rivals  in 
Europe.  To  enjoy,  however,  this  advantage,  so  as  to  make  it 
really  worth  possessing,  a  system  of  low  duties  on  foreign  goods 
is  necessary.     If  duties  were  reduced  to  an  average  of  about 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  223 

fifteen  per  centum,  which  would  give  us  as  much  revenue  as 
such  a  government  as  ours  would  need  for  its  support,  the  stores 
of  our  commercial  cities  would  be  filled  with  the  productions 
and  manufactures  of  Europe,  waiting  ready  for  the  freshest  ad- 
vices from  Mexico,  Central  America,  Colombia,  and  the  West 
Indies.  As  it  now  stands,  we  are  denied,  by  the  American  Sys- 
tem, this  benefit,  conferred  upon  us  by  our  natural  position. 
Our  high  duties  prevent  the  importation  of  large  surplus  stocks ; 
for,  although  the  duty  may  be  drawn  back  upon  expoiUation, 
yet  it  often  happens  that  no  opportunity  for  a  profitable  ship- 
ment may  be  afforded,  until  the  bonds  are  payable,  or  the  terms 
limiting  the  benefit  of  drawback  expire,  and  this  operates  as 
a  discouragement  to  importations. 

The  American  manufacturer  has  also  the  advantage  of  female 
labour.  And  why  cannot  the  manufacturer  of  England  have 
the  same  advantage  ?  If  the  labour  of  men  is  cheaper  there 
than  here,  we  know  not  why  that  of  females  and  children  is 
not  so  too.  The  fact  is,  that  all  these  assumptions  of  the  wri- 
ter in  question,  are  adopted,  not  as  a  well-authenticated  basis 
of  any  reasoning,  to  show  that  we  do  really  manufacture  cotton 
goods  cheaper  than  they  do  in  England,  but  as  matters  which 
ought  to  be  true,  in  case  it  were  true,  as  taken  for  granted,  that 
we  do  so  manufacture.  In  other  words,  this  writer,  as  all  the 
others  have  done  who  have  preceded  him  on  the  s^me  side, 
takes  for  granted  the  very  matter  in  dispute,  and  then  spins  out 
a  theory  adapted  to  sustain  a  baseless  fabric.  This  conduct 
has  been  so  uniform,  that  we  have  often  been  reminded  by  it 
of  the  puzzling  question  once  propounded  to  a  number  of  wise- 
acres, "  what  is  the  reason  why  a  living  fish,  placed  in  a  bucket 
of  water,  will  not  increase  the  weight  of  the  bucket  ?"  Amongst 
the  reasons  assigned,  one  supposed  that  it  was  owing  to  the 
offort  made  by  the  fish  to  swim,  which  kept  its  weight  suspend- 
ed. After  several  equally  philosophical  replies,  one  of  the  com- 
pany, more  philosophical  than  the  rest,  said,  that,  before  he  an- 
swered the  question,  he  would  like  to  know  what  the  fad  was, 
and,  having  procured  a  pair  of  scales,  a  bucket  of  water,  and  a 
living  fish,  he  found  that,  after  the  fish  was  put  into  the  bucket, 
the  weight  was  increased  precisely  equal  to  the  weight  of  the 
fish.  Now,  w^e  think  it  would  be  a  good  plan  for  the  political 
arithmeticians  to  imitate  the  example  of  this  sensible  man,  and 
not  to  trouble  themselves  with  hunting  up  reasons  to  sustain  a 
position,  unless  they  know,  beforehand,  that  the  position  is  true. 
They  will,  by  pursuing  such  a  course,  save  themselves  much 
trouble,  and  the  public  from  much  mischief. 


224 


ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 


ESSAY    No.    L  XX  I  II. 

DF.CEMBER    15,    1630. 

Vote  in  Congress  upon  a  resolution  to  repeal  tlie  duty  on  sugar. 

THE  vote  taken  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  on  the  13th 
instant,  upon  the  resolution  oHered  by  Mr.  Haynes,  of  Geor- 
gia, relative  to  a  reduction  of  the  duty  on  Sugar,  may  be  con- 
sidered as  far  from  an  unfavourable  one.  Our  readers  will  re- 
collect, that  a  resolution,  offered  on  the  15th  of  December,  of 
last  year,  by  Mr,  Conner,  of  North  Carolina,  for  a  reduction 
of  the  duty  on  Salt,  was  defeated  in  the  same  manner,  and  by 
nearly  an  equal  vote,  the  yeas  being  78  for,  and  the  nays  92 
against,  consideration ;  and  yet,  before  the  close  of  the  session, 
the  duty  on  salt  was  reduced. 

In  order  that  a  proper  view  of  the  subject  may  be  presented, 
we  have  arranged  the  votes  on  this  question  geographically, 
and  they  stand  as  follows  ; 


STATES. 

Yeas. 

Nays. 

Absent. 

Total. 

Maine 

4 

3 

0 

7 

New  Hampshire 

5 

0 

1 

G 

Massachusetts 

0 

11 

2 

13 

Rhode  Island    - 

0 

1 

1 

2 

Connecticut 

0 

6 

0 

6 

Vermont 

0 

•  4 

1 

5 

New  York 

14 

17 

3 

34 

New  Jersey 

0 

5 

1 

6 

Pennsylvania    - 

0 

24 

2 

26 

Delaware 

0 

0 

1 

1 

Maryland 

4 

3 

2 

9 

Virginia 

14 

2 

6 

22 

North  Carolina 

11 

0 

2 

13 

South  Carolina 

8 

0 

1 

9 

Georgia 

5 

0 

2 

7 

Kentucky 

2 

8 

2 

12 

Tennessee 

7 

0 

2 

9 

Ohio 

2 

12 

0 

14 

I^ouisiana 

0 

3 

0 

3 

Indiana 

2 

0 

1 

3 

Alabama 

3 

0 

0 

3 

Mississippi 

1 

0 

0 

1 

Illinois 

0 

1 

0 

1 

Missouri 

1 

0 

0 

1 

83 

100 

30 

213 

OF    FREE     TRADE.  ;^25 

Of  the  absentees,  it  is  fair  to  presume  that  those  from  New 
Hampshire,  Virginia,  North  CaroHna,  South  Carolina,  Geor- 
gia, Tennessee,  and  Indiana — in  number,  fifteen — would,  had 
they  been  present,  have  voted  in  favour  of  consideration  ;  and 
thus,  leaving  the  other  fifteen  to  go  to  the  other  side,  the  vote 
would  have  stood,  115  to  98,  giving  a  majority  of  17.  Now, 
admitting  this  to  be  the  case,  it  is  evident  that  a  simple  change 
of  nine  votes  would  make  the  difference  between  consideration 
and  no  consideration.  We  hope  that  our  friends  in  Congress 
will  look  at  this,  and  show  the  same  perseverance  that  their 
opponents  did,  who  thought  their  victory  half  accomplished, 
when  they  came  within  thirty  or  forty  votes  of  being  a  majo- 
rity. If,  however,  they  should  fail  this  year,  success  must 
await  them  at  the  next  session  of  Congress.  None  of  the  elec- 
tions for  members  of  Congress,  which  have  taken  place  during 
the  present  year,  have  added  strength  to  the  tariff  party,  as  far 
as  we  know,  but,  in  Maine  and  New  York,  there  have  been 
several  changes  the  other  wa)^ — enough,  we  think,  to  turn  the 
scale,  without  relying  upon  the  other  causes  which  are  now  in 
operation  and  gradually  producing  a  re-action  in  public  senti- 
ment. 

But,  upon  what  principle  is  the  duty  on  sugar  to  remain  un- 
touched '(  The  people  of  Georgia  and  Mississippi,  where  alone 
it  is  cultivated,  out  of  Louisiana,  tell  you,  by  the  votes  of  their 
representatives,  that  they  do  not  want  protection.  All  the 
Southern  and  Southwestern  states,  except  Louisiana,  say  the 
same  thing.  That  government  must  be  over-kind  and  over- 
paternal,  which  forces  its  favours  upon  those  who  do  not  want 
them.  We  dare  say,  that,  if  the  iron-masters,  and  the  cotton  and 
woollen  manufacturers,  were  to  petition  Congress  for  a  repeal 
of  their  protecting  duties,  the  Southern  representatives  would 
not  insist  upon  forcing  them  upon  them ;  and  we  see  no  reason 
why  a  similar  acquiescence  should  not  be  displayed  in  this  case. 

That  Louisiana  should  be  in  favour  of  the  continuance  of  the 
duty,  is  as  natural  as  that  the  people  of  Pawtucket,  Lowell, 
and  Patterson,  should  be  in  favour  of  the  cotton  and  woollen 
duties.  People  every  where  have  a  wonderful  fondness  for 
pocketing  other  people's  money,  without  giving  an  equivalent 
for  it ;  and  there  are  few  men  so  virtuous  as  to  refuse  a  legal 
monopoly,  if  it  were  offered  them  for  nothing.  In  another  part 
of  our  paper  will  be  found  some  remarks  upon  this  sugar 
question  written  before  we  saw  this  movement  in  Congress. 

As  regards  the  vote  given  on  the  IGth,  upon  Mr.  Barringer's 
resolution,  to  reduce  the  duty  on  iron,  cotton-bagging,  coarse 
woollen  goods  costing  less  than  fifty  cents  per  square  yard, 
and  brown  sugar  the  yeas  and  nays  upon  which  will  be  found 
under  our  Congressional  head,  the  result  was  what  might  have 
been  anticipated.     The  moment  an  attempt  is  made  to  attack 


226  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

more  than  one  object  at  a  time,  the  combination  spirit  is  excit- 
ed, and  a  host  is  ralhed  in  defence  of  fifty  wrongs  against  which, 
singly,  a  majority  would  probably  be  o{)posed. 

The  different  results  of  these  two  votes  will  show  the  neces- 
sity of  attacking  the  system  in  detail.  The  forces  we  have  to 
oppose  are  not  a  solid  column.  They  consist  of  detached 
squads,  and  are  to  be  cut  off  by  platoons.  Let  the  duty  on  su- 
gar be  reduced,  and  Louisiana  is  then  restored  to  our  ranks, 
where  she  properly  belongs.  Let  the  duty  on  cotton-bagging 
and  hemp  be  reduced,  and  Kentucky  will  have  nothing  to  wed 
her  to  the  American  System.  Let  the  duty  on  iron  be  reduced, 
and  Pennsylvania  belongs  to  us.  The  rest  must  surrender  at 
discretion,  and,  like  magnanimous  conquerors,  we  could  then 
display  a  generosity  to  the  vanquished,  which  they,  in  the  days 
of  their  success,  never  dreamed  of  extending  to  those  whose  in- 
terests were  destroyed  by  their  selfish  policy. 

In  this  first  movement  on  the  sugar  duty,  we  are  glad  to  see 
Georgia  in  the  advance.  She  is  one  of  the  states  which  has 
been  most  strongly  tempted  to  go  over  to  the  enemy,  as  having 
made  some  progress  in  the  cultivation  of  sugar.  We  are 
pleased,  also,  to  see  Mississippi  by  her  side — and,  as  the  whole 
South  and  Southwest,  except  Louisiana,  have  gone  almost  en 
masse  against  it, we  hope  never  again  to  hear  the  protection  of 
sugar  brought  out,  as  it  is  daily,  in  the  tariff  papers,  as  a  South- 
ern measure. 


ESSAY    No.    LXXIV. 


DECEMBER    15,    1830. 

The  Sugar  duty.  Tax  'paid  for  the  support  of  the  sugar  plant- 
ing interest  in  the  United  States.  Cost  of  an  invoice  of 
sugar  at  Matanzas. 

THE  advocates  for  taxation  are  always  calling  out  for  facts. 
They  say  that  one  fact  is  worth  a  thousand  theories.  We  say 
so  too,  but  we  mean  a  different  thing  from  what  they  mean. 
We  mean,  that  one  fact,  illustrative  of  a  sound  theory,  is  worth 
a  thousand  theories  unsupported  by  facts.  To  make  this  plain, 
we  will  be  somewhat  particular.  It  is  a  fact — for  example — 
that  sugar  is  now  cheaper,  all  over  the  world,  than  it  was  four- 
teen years  ago.  This  fact  proves,  that,  owing  to  improved 
modes  of  cultivation,  to  improvements  in  machinery,  to  the 
extension  of  the  culture  in  Brazil  and  other  countries,  and  to 
the  various  other  causes  which  have  operated  all  over  the  world, 
in  multiplying  the  products  which  agriculture,  in  all  its  depart- 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  227 

ments,  yields,  with  the  same  exertions  of  human  labour,  su- 
gar can  be  produced  more  cheaply  than  formerly.  But  it 
proves  nothing  more,  and,  consequently,  when  it  is  asserted  that 
this  fact  is  proof  that  the  American  tariff  of  high  duties  has  oc- 
casioned this  reduction  of  price  all  over  the  world,  we  pro- 
nounce the  fact  to  be  worth  a  thousand  such  theories. 

In  our  paper  of  the  24th  November,  we  devoted  a  considera- 
ble space  to  the  examination  of  the  sugar  duty,  and  demonstra- 
ted, what  cannot  be  controverted,  and  what  we  think  will  not 
lose  by  repetition.     It  was  there  shown — 

First.  That  the  production  of  sugar  in  Louisiana  is  estima- 
ted at  80,000  hhds.,  equal  to  about  80,000,000  lbs. 

Secondly.  That  the  quantity  we  import  from  abroad  is  about 
60,000,000  lbs. 

Thirdly.  That  the  consumers  of  sugar  in  the  United  States 
pay,  upon  their  whole  consumption  of  140,000,000  pounds,  a 
tax  of  three  cents  a  pound,  equal,  in  the  whole,  to  $4,200,000, 
of  which  $  2,400,000  go  into  the  pockets  of  a  very  few  sugar 
planters. 

Fourthly.  That  the  whole  number  of  hands,  in  Louisiana, 
employed  in  raising  the  quantity  of  sugar  there  produced,  esti- 
mating the  value  of  the  labour  of  each  hand  at  the  low  estimate 
of  $112,  which  would  be  the  value  of  1,G00  pounds  of  sugar, 
at  seven  cents  per  pound,  is  but  50,000. 

Fifthly.  That,  consequently,  a  tax  of  $4,200,000,  imposed 
upon  the  people  of  the  United  States,  for  the  sake  of  employing 
50,000  hands,  is  a  tax  at  the  rate  of  $84  a  head. 

Sixthly.  That  this  tax  of  $4,200,000  is  a  much  greater  sum 
than  the  price  at  which  the  whole  80,000  hhds.,  produced  in  Lou- 
isiana, could  be  purchased  for  abroad  ;  and  that,  consequently, 
it  would  be  more  advantageous  for  the  nation  to  pay  the  Loui- 
siana planters  a  bounty  of  $50  a  head,  equal  to  their  entire 
maintenance,  upon  all  the  hands  employed  in  the  cultivation  of 
sugar,  and  let  them  stand  behind  their  masters'  chairs  at  table, 
or  behind  their  coaches  when  they  ride,  than  to  persevere  in 
the  duty,  when  the  only  benefit  which  it  can  possibly  confer,  is, 
to  put  into  the  pockets  of  not  exceeding  two  hundred  rich  men, 
the  sum  of  $2,400,000,  which  is,  upon  an  average,  $12,000 
a  piece,  raised  chiefly  at  the  expense  of  the  substantial  comfort 
and  happiness  of  the  working  people  of  this  country. 

Seventhly.  That  the  idea  of  supposing  that  the  production  of 
80,000  hhds.  of  sugar  in  the  United  States,  had  caused  a  re- 
duction in  the  price  of  sugar  all  over  the  world,  could  only  be 
entertained  by  one  who  had  never  reflected  on  the  subject.  It 
was  shown,  that  the  imports  into  Great  Britain  alone,  from  her 
West  India  colonies  alone,  during  ten  years,  commencing  with 
1818,  and  ending  with  1822,  was,  upon  an  average,  397,513,508 
pounds,  a  quantity  nearly  five  times  as  great  as  that  now  pro- 


228  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

duced  in  the  United  States ;  and  it  was  argued,  that  the  addi- 
tion of  80,000  hhds.  to  tlie  stock  which  annually  supplies 
800,000,000  of  people  with  sugar,  would  produce  no  more  effect 
upon  the  price  of  sugar,  in  the  market  of  the  commercial  world, 
than  the  addition  of  one  barrel  of  flour  to  every  hundred,  would 
produce  upon  the  price  of  flour  ;  and  how  much  that  would  be, 
any  farmer  can  judge  for  himself. 

In  making  the  calculations  which  led  to  these  results,  we  are 
now  satisfied  that  our  extreme  caution  to  be  within  limits,  present- 
ed the  question  in  too  favourable  a  light  for  the  sugar  interest.  We 
believe  that  $112  per  head,  as  the  value  of  the  sugar  produced 
by  each  hand,  is  too  low  an  estimate,  and  think  that  $200  would 
be  nearer  the  mark.  The  estimate  of  seven  cents  per  pound, 
as  the  value  of  the  sugar,  was  also  too  high.  Placing  this  lat- 
ter at  five  cents,  which  is  probably  the  maximum  which  the 
planter  receives,  we  have  then  $4,000,000  as  the  total  cost  of 
all  the  sugar  produced  in  Louisiana  ;  and,  if  our  other  position 
be  correct,  this  quantity  is  produced  by  the  labour  of  20,000 
hands.  In  these  positions  we  cannot  be  far  from  the  truth,  and 
it  will  consequently  appear  that  this  nation  pays  a  tax,  for  the 
raising  of  sugar,  equal  to  $210  a  head  upon  alj  who  are  con- 
cerned in  its  production,  which  is  a  sum  adequate  to  support, 
four  times  over,  the  said  20,000  hands,  and  would  pay  the  first 
cost,  in  foreign  countries,  of  all  the  sugar  that  the  people  of  the 
United  States  now  consume. 

But  how  can  this  be  proved  ?  it  will  be  asked.  We  answer, 
by  turning  to  the  prices  of  sugar  in  the  West  Indies  and  other 
countries,  the  soil  and  climates  of  which  are  adapted  to  its  culti- 
vation. Upon  former  occasions,  we  have  spoken  of  three  cents 
per  pound  as  the  foreign  cost  of  sugar.  We  are  now  enabled 
to  furnish  a  document,  which  will  settle  this  question.  It  is  a 
copy  of  a  fresh  invoice  of  sugar,  purchased  in  September  last, 
furnished  to  us  by  a  respectable  merchant,  from  which  we  have 
only  omitted  the  names  of  the  shipper  and  consignee,  and  the 
marks  and  numbers  of  the  packages. 

From  this  document  it  will  be  seen,  that,  on  the  16th  of  Sep- 
tember last,  the  highest  price  paid  at  Matanzas,  in  the  island  of 
Cuba,  for  Brown  Sugar,  was  $2.25  per  100  lbs.,  Spanish  w^eight, 
which  is  eight  per  cent,  better  than  our  English  weight ;  that 
some,  of  an  inferior  quality,  cost  but  $1.25 — that  is,  a  cent  and 
a  quarter  a  pound ;  and  that,  after  adding  the  enormous  expense 
of  the  boxes,  which  is  equal  to  about  75  cents  per  100  pounds, 
the  average  price  is  less  than  three  cents  per  pound.  The  ad- 
dition of  export  duty,  drayage,  weighing,  brokerage,  commis- 
sions, &c.,  increases  the  cost ;  but,  notwithstanding  these,  and 
the  freight,  insurance,  storage,  and  merchants'  profits  besides, 
the  price  at  this  day,  in  New  York,  for  Brown  Havana  Sugar, 
is  quoted  at  $7  to  $7.75  per  100  pounds,  long  price — that  is, 


OP    FREE     TRADE. 


229 


including  the  duty ;  and  for  exportation,  it  can  be  purchased  at 
$4  to  $4.75  per  100  pounds.  The  following  is  the  invoice  re- 
ferred to,  with  which  we  shall  take  leave  of  the  subject  at  pre- 
sent. 

(COPY.) 

Invoice  of  Sugars,  skipped  hy  M.  ^  S.  on  board  the  brig  Miles 
Standish,  Captain  Foster,  bound  to  New  York,  by  order  of 
J.  A.  Esq.,  for  account  of  whom  it  may  concern  : 


nett. 

141  boxes  Brown  Sugar,  Wg 

56,797, 

at  $2.1-4 

$  1.277 

7  1-2 

20  boxes  ordinary  ditto,    — 

7,752, 

1.1-4 

96 

7 

48  boxes  White    ditto,    — 

20,129, 

4.1-4 

855 

4 

12  boxes    ditto,     ditto,    — 

5,159, 

4 

206 

3 

71  boxes  Brown    ditto,    — 

31,665, 

2 

6.33 

2  1-2 

12  boxes  White    ditto,    — 

5,038, 

4 

201 

4 

34  boxes  Brown    ditto,    — 

14,729, 

2 

294 

4  1-2 

82  boxes    ditto,     ditto,    — 

36,792, 

2.1-8 

781 

6  1-2 

7  boxes  White    ditto,    — 

2,849, 

4 

113 

7  1-2 

11  boxes  Brown    ditto,    — 

4,473, 

2.1-8 

95 

0  1-2 

16  boxes  White    ditto,    — 

6,.505, 

4 

260 

1  1-2 

30  boxes  Brown    ditto,    — 

11.331, 

2.1-4 

254 

7  1-2 

484  boxes 

464  boxes 

_ 

at  $3.1-4 

$  1,508 

20  ditto, 

2.1-2 

50 

$  6,630 

Charges. 

Export  duty, 

- 

$1,051 

Drayage,  weighing,  &c. 

. 

151  2 

Brokerage,  1-2  per  cent. 

33  1 

1,235 

3 

$  7,865 

3 

Commissions,  at  2  1-2  per  c( 

3nt. 

■ 

196 

5 

$  8,062 

E.  E.         Matanzas,  \&th  Sept.  1830. 

(Signed) 
TT 


M.  &  S. 


230  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 


ESSAY     No.   LXXV. 

DKCKMBER   29,    1830. 

Remarks  upon  the  annual  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Trea- 
sury. 

THE  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  will  be  found 
in  our  paper  of  to-day.     From  it,  it  will  be  seen — 

That   the   revenue,    during   the  year    1828, 
amounted  to  -  -  -  -       $24,763,629  23 

And  the  expenditures,  to  -  -  25,459,479  52 


That   the   rev'enue,  during   the   vear  1829, 
amounted  to  -  -  -  '  -        $24,827,627  38 

And  the  expenditures,  to  -  •  25,044,358  40 


That  the  known  and  estimated  revenue  during 
the  year  1830,  will  be,     -  -  -        $24,161,018  79 

And  the  expenditures  known,  and  estimated,  25,096,941  82 


That  the  balance  which  will  be  in  the  Trea- 
sury on  the  first  of  January,  is  estimated  (includ- 
ing one  million  four  hundred  thousand  dollars  not 
effective  money)  at        -  -  -  $4,819,781  76 


From  the  Report,  will  also  be  seen — 
That  the    total    amount  of  the  public  debt, 
which  will  remain  unredeemed  on  the    1st  of 
January,  1831,  will  be  but  -  -       $39,123,191  68 

This  debt  is  redeemable  as  follows :  

At  the  pleasure  of  the  gov't  $  18,876,463  53 
After  the  31st  December,  1831,  5,000,000  00 
After  the  1st  January,  1832,  5,999,999  13 
After  the  31st  December,  1832,  2,284,068  74 
After  the  31st  December,  1833,  2,227,363  98 
After  the  1st  January,        1835,    4,735,296  30 

$39,123,191  68 


And,  consequently,  if  the  Sinking  Fund  is  supplied,  as  we 
have  no  doubt  it  will  be,  with  the  necessary  means  of  ten  mil- 
lions of  dollars  per  annum,  the  sublime  spectacle  will  be  pre- 
sented to  the  world,  on  the  second  of  January,  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  thiny-five,  of  a  nation,  containing  a  popula- 
tion of  thirteen  millions  of  souls,  without  a  National  Debt,  of 
one  single  dollar,  and  possessing  shares  in  the  Stock  of  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States,  to  the  value  of  $7,000,000. 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  231 

When  that  day  arrives,  it  ought  to  be  celebrated  as  a  day  of 
national  jubilee,  from  one  extremity  of  the  Union  to  the  other. 
No  event  that  has  transpired  since  the  4th  of  July,  1776,  has 
done  more  for  the  cause  of  liberty,  throughout  the  world,  than 
will  be  accomplished  by  a  wide  promulgation  of  the  joyful  truth, 
that  our  Republic  has  fulfilled  all  its  engagements  with  those  who 
confided  to  her  honour,  and,  after  paying  in  forty-five  years,  up- 
wards of  two  hundred  and  twenty  millions  of  dollars  debt,  be- 
sides nearly  an  equal  sum  in  interest,  had  reached  the  happy 
goal,  which  had  never  before  been  attained  by  any  populous 
nation.  We  hope  the  people  will  not  lose  sight  of  this  jubilee. 
No  celebration  that  could  possibly  be  devised,  would  ring 
through  the  world  with  such  eclat,  as  this  grand  consummation, 
accompanied  as  it  would  be  by  the  further  heart-cheering  intel- 
ligence that  the  expenditures  of  the  government,  and  conse- 
quently the  taxation,  direct  and  indirect,  imposed  upon  the  peo- 
ple, did  not  exceed  one  dollar  a  head,  upon  an  average. 

In  reference  to  the  estimates  of  the  Report,  for  the  approach- 
ing year,  it  is  stated  that  the  imports  into  the  United  States,  du- 
ring the  year  ending  on  the  30th  September,  1830,  amounted  to 
$68,500,000,  and  the  amount  of  exports  to  $73,800,000.  This 
result,  according  to  the  doctrines  of  the  restrictionists,  is  a  fa- 
vourable indication  of  our  commerce.  We  export  more  than 
we  import — and  so  we  should  do,  if  half  our  ships  should  be  lost 
at  sea,  and  yet  no  one  would  pretend  that  the  country  was  a 
gainer,  in  such  case,  by  exporting  more  than  she  imported.  In 
truth,  this  fact,  which  in  reality  proves  nothing,  one  way  or  the 
other,  is  only  worth  noticing,  as  giving  another  coup  de  grace, 
if  one  were  wanted,  to  the  cherished  fallacy  that  the  balance  of 
trade  is  against  the  country.  It  had  already  been  demonstrated 
that  the  rate  of  exchange  on  England  was  no  evidence  of  the 
existence  of  such  a  balance,  by  the  importation  of  coin  from 
Great  Britain  into  the  United  States,  whilst  exchansre  was  at 
6  per  cent,  premium,  so  called — and  we  now  have  it  of  record, 
from  the  custom-house  returns,  that  no  such  balance  exists ; 
and  yet  the  desire  to  hold  on  to  the  tarififis  as  strong  as  ever. 

As  to  the  views  of  the  Secretary,  in  regard  to  the  probable 
diminution  of  the  revenue  arising  from  the  duties  on  coflee,  co- 
coa, salt  and  molasses,  we  entirely  accord  with  them.  It  does 
not  of  necessity  follow,  that  the  sum  saved  by  the  consumers  of 
those  articles,  by  the  reduction  of  duties,  will  be  specifically 
applied  to  the  purchase  of  an  equal  value  of  the  same  commo- 
dities, in  addition  to  what  they  already  consume  ;  nor  does  it 
follow,  even  if  this  were  the  case,  that  the  amount  of  duty  col- 
lected, under  one  cent  a  pound  duty  on  coffee,  for  example, 
would  be  as  great  as  under  five  cents ;  for  this  would  suppose 
a  consumption  of  five  times  the  quantity,  whereas  the  saving 
of  four  cents,  enjoyed  by  the  consumers,  would  only  aftbrd  the 


232  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

means  of  paying  for  three  pounds,  the  sum  which  they  before 
used  to  pay  for  two.  There  is,  in  fiscal  legislation,  a  happy 
medium,  the  striking  upon  which  gives  the  greatest  possible  in- 
come. It  is  neither  bordering  on  the  extreme  of  very  low  du- 
ties, nor  on  that  of  very  high  duties — but  each  specific  class  of 
articles  has  its  own  medium,  and  it  is  the  business  of  statesmen 
to  find  it  out.  In  fixing  most  of  our  present  duties,  when  reve- 
nue for  the  support  of  government  and  the  discharge  of  the 
public  debt,  was  wanted,  we  think  that  no  scientific  attention 
was  devoted  to  this  subject.  Duties  have  been  laid  hap-hazard, 
without  rhyme  or  reason,  and  care  should  be  taken,  in  remov- 
ing them,  that  the  random  system  be  not  again  pursued  :  for, 
by  going  below  the  mark,  we  should  be  compelled  again  to  in- 
crease them. 

The  Secretary  informs  us,  that,  since  the  year  1825,  there 
has  been,  with  the  exception  of  the  year  1828,  a  gradual  re- 
duction of  imports.  This  will  appear  from  the  following  state- 
ment: 

In  the  year  1826  there  were  imported  -      $84,974,477 

1827 79,484,068 

1828 88,509,824 

1829 74,492,527 

1830 73,800,000 


$401,260,896 

The  increase  in  1828  was  greater  than  would  otherwise  have 
taken  place,  owing  to  the  tariff',  which  went  into  operaticn  on 
the  30th  June  and  1st  September,  of  that  year;  and  a  fair 
way  of  stating  this  question  would  be,  to  take  the  average  of 
the  five  years  which  have  elapsed  since  1825,  which  will  be 

found  to  be $80,252,179 

whilst  the  imports  of  1825  were     -         -  96,340,075 


leaving  an  annual  falling  ofl'of  -  -  $  16,087,896 
That  this  great  decline  in  the  foreign  commerce  of  a  popu- 
lation annually  increasing  in  wealth  and  numbers,  and  which 
has  added  to  the  latter,  within  the  last  five  years,  at  least  ten 
per  centum,  calling  for  an  additional  import  of  9,634,007  dol- 
lars, should  have  occasioned  a  "  material  depression"  in  the 
navigating  interest,  as  we  are  officially  informed  has  been  the 
case,  is  not  to  be  wondered  at.  A  falling  off  of  one-sixth  of  the 
import  trade  of  a  country  is  no  light  calamity  for  ship-owners 
and  seamen,  for  it  cannot  but  throw  out  of  employment  one- 
sixth  of  the  tonnage  employed  in  the  import  trade,  to  say  no- 
thing of  the  injury  infficted  upon  ship-builders,  riggers,  sail- 
m.akers,  rope-makers,  and  the  numerous  other  mechanics  and 
labourers  connected  in  navigating  pursuiis,  in  preventing  that 
increase  of  their  business  which  a  gradually  increasing  com- 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  233 

merce  carries  with  it.  The  recommendation  of  the  Secretary 
to  Congress,  to  consider  how  far  the  navigating  interest  can  be 
reheved  from  its  burthens,  is  judicious  and  well-timed,  and  we 
hope  that  the  Committee  on  (commerce  will  renew  their  ef- 
forts to  bring  the  subject  before  the  nation. 

In  reference  to  the  suggestion  of  the  Report,  that  any  further 
reduction  of  duties,  should  any  be  contemplated  by  Congress, 
ought  to  take  effect  at  a  period  "  sufficiently  remote  for  the 
payment  of  the  entire  debt,"  we  take  the  liberty,  respectfully, 
of  differing  from  the  Secretary.  The  entire  relief  of  the  people 
from  the  burthen  of  the  public  debt,  desirable  as  it  undoubted- 
ly is,  is  nothing,  to  be  compared  to  their  relief  from  their  bon- 
dage to  the  Restrictive  System ;  and  we  unhesitatingly  say, 
that  we  would  rather  submit  a  little  longer  to  a  portion  of  the 
debt,  than  to  the  unconstitutional  exaction  of  oppressive  and 
unequal  taxes.  Some  consideration  is,  however,  due  to  the 
interests  of  those  who  have  stocks  on  hand,  that  might  be  af- 
fected by  a  too  great  and  sudden  reduction,  and  a  reasonable 
postponement  of  the  operation  of  part  of  the  reduction  might 
be  made,  such  as  took  place  with  the  salt,  tea,  and  coff^ee  du- 
ties ;  and  in  regard  to  some  branches  of  manufacture,  we  should 
be  inclined  to  act  with  much  Uberality,  provided  that  the  ma- 
nufacturers themselves  should  acquiesce  in  the  reduction.  But 
a  postponement  until  after  the  debt  should  be  paid,  would  be 
altogether  too  hazardous.  Look  at  the  fate  of  a  similar  act, 
passed  in  1816.  By  that  act,  it  was  declared,  that  the  duties 
on  woollen  and  cotton  goods  should  be  reduced,  from  25  down 
to  20  per  centum  ad  valorem,  at  the  expiration  oi  three  years. 
Before  the  three  years  had  expired,  another  act  was  passed, 
extending  the  period  for  the  reduction  seven  years  longer.  And 
what  was  the  result  ?  Why,  that,  before  the  ten  years  had  come 
round,  those  very  duties  were  increased,  instead  of  being  redu- 
ced, and  the  generous  and  magnanimous  men,  whose  good 
faith  had  been  imposed  upon  in  this  transaction,  were  laughed 
at  by  those  who  pocketed  the  benefits  of  this  deception,  and 
have  even  been  impudently  pronounced  to  be  friends  of  the 
high  duty  system.  We  hope  that  no  friend  to  our  cause  will 
hereafter  vote  for  any  bill  that  does  not  touch  the  duty,  to  some 
extent,  before  the  ensuing  session  of  Congress. 

Upon  the  subject  of  smuggling,  the  Secretary  states  a  fact, 
w'hich  is  conclusive,  as  to  the  impolicy  of  high  duties.  It  is, 
that  more  spices  were  exported  from  the  United  States,  during 
the  seven  years  preceding  1828,  than  were  imported — and  yet 
we  do  not  raise  an  ounce  of  any  kind.  From  this  indisputable 
evidence,  it  will  not  be  difficult  to  imagine  that  the  game  is 
carried  on  in  other  articles  than  cloves,  mace,  nutmegs,  and 
cinnamon,  to  a  greater  extent  than  is  dreamt  of  in  your  mo- 
ral philosophy.  May  we  not,  indeed,  account,  in  this  manner, 
U* 


234  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

for  a  fact  stated  in  the  Report,  and  which  never  before  hap- 
pened, as  far  as  can  be  ascertained  from  the  Treasury  returns, 
viz., that  our  official  exports,  during  the  last  year,  were  5,300,000 
dollars  more  than  our  official  imports.  That  this  was  not  to 
make  up  a  balance  created  in  the  year  preceding,  is  evident 
from  the  fact,  that  the  imports  of  that  year  exceeded  the  ex- 
ports only  $2,133,946,  and  this  was  a  very  small  excess  to  re- 
sult from  the  commerce  of  a  year.  We  think,  indeed,  that 
the  statements  of  both  years  testify  to  an  immense  amount  of 
smuggling ;  for,  the  exports  for  the  two  years  united  amounted 
to  $3,160,054  more  than  the  imports,  whilst  it  appears  that, 
during  the  eight  preceding  years,  the  average  annual  excess  of 
imports,  over  exports,  was  $4,215,418.  Now,  if,  as  appears, 
there  was,  in  1829  and  1830,  merchandise  exported,  which 
ought  to  have  produced  an  excess  of  imports  to  the  amount  of 
$  8,430,836,  and  if,  in  place  of  doing  this,  it  left  a  deficiency  of 
$3,166,054,  does  it  not  affi^rd  strong  ground  for  presumption 
that  there  has  been  smuggling  carried  on,  if  not  to  the  extent 
of  $  11,596,890,  at  least  to  the  extent  of  a  great  part  of  it? 
We  have  no  knowledge  that  our  merchants  have  been  less  suc- 
cessful, in  the  last  two  years,  than  in  the  preceding  eight,  and 
the  foreign  exchanges  afibrd  no  evidence  that  they  have  large 
funds  abroad  to  draw  for. 

We  come  now  to  that  part  of  the  Report  which  recommends 
an  alteration  of  the  system  of  determining  the  value  of  goods 
subject  to  an  ad  valorem  duty  ;  and  here,  we  think,  the  Secre- 
tary has  advanced  a  position  which  cannot  be  sustained.  By 
the  present  laws,  the  duty  is  assessed  upon  the  actual  cost  of  the 
goods  abroad,  with  an  addition  of  certain  charges,  and  ten  per 
cent,  when  imported  from  any  country  on  this  side  of  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope,  and  twenty  per  cent,  when  from  countries  be- 
yond it.  This  system  of  taking  the  actual  cost  abroad  as  the 
basis  of  the  duty,  is  founded  upon  the  clearest  principles  of  sound 
reason,  justice,  and  policy  ;  for,  whilst  it  holds  out  a  strong  in- 
centive to  merchants  to  purchase  abroad  as  cheap  as  they  can, 
by  which  the  country  gains,  let  who  may  be  the  importer,  it  con- 
sults sound  policy  in  our  intercourse  with  foreign  nations,  inas- 
much as  it  gives  to  those  who  supply  us  upon  the  most  favour- 
able terms,  the  advantages  to  which  they  are  fairly  entitled. 

What  has  astonished  us  greatly  in  the  remarks  of  the  Secre- 
tary, is,  his  regarding  the  advantages  which  the  skilful  and  ex- 
perienced merchant,  possessing  capital,  enjoys  over  his  unskil- 
ful, inexperienced,  and  moneyless  competitor,  as  a  sort  of  evil  to 
the  country  that  is  to  be  averted  by  wholesome  legislation.  The 
Report  says,  "  the  purchaser  who  lays  in  his  goods  low,  not 
only  derives  a  profit  directly  from  this  circumstance,  but  from 
the  diflierence  in  the  amount  of  duty  paid  on  them  at  the  cus- 
tom-house."    And,  pray,  is  it  not  right  that  he  should  enjoy  this 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  235 

advantage,  and  does  he  not  thereby  confer  a  benefit  on  the  con- 
sumer by  selHng  his  goods  cheaper  than  he  could  do  if  he  had  not 
had  this  advantage  ?  But  it  seems  that  this  advantage  is  more 
likely  to  be  enjoyed  by  foreigners  than  by  native  merchants. 
This  sort  of  argument  partakes  more  of  the  "  American  System" 
than  we  had  expected  to  find  upon  this  occasion.  And  even 
admitting,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  that  ibreigners  can  supply 
us  cheaper  than  the  native  merchants  can,  are  the  nation,  the 
consumers,  injured  thereby  ?  Do  the  native  merchants  them- 
selves complain,  that,  owing  to  the  present  mode  of  fixing  ad 
valorem  duties,  they  are  so  injured  by  the  foreigners  that  they 
wish  the  law  changed  ?  We  appreiiend  not.  But,  after  all,  this 
sort  of  argument  is  founded  upon  mere  surmise.  We  think  it 
very  doubtiul  whether  foreigners  do  make  their  purchases  any 
cheaper  than  the  American  merchants  do,  who  now  liave  their 
partners  and  agents  located  in  Europe  for  the  express  purpose 
of  buying  cheap,  for  cash,  furnished  with  better  information  as 
to  what  suits  the  American  market,  than  any  foreign  resident 
can  be.  But,  even  if  this  were  not  the  case,  the  advantage 
which  the  native  importer  has  over  the  foreign  shipper,  in  sell- 
ing his  own  goods,  far  outw^eighs  all  the  benefits  which  the  other 
can  derive  from  cheap  purchases,  although  the  Secretary  con- 
siders it  to  be  merely  equal.  As  much  of  the  discussion  turns 
upon  this  point,  we  will  bring  into  view  a  simple  fact,  which 
will  illustrate,  in  some  degree,  our  position.  Where  one  mer- 
chant fails  whose  business  it  is  alone  to  import,  as  is  chiefly  the 
case  with  those  who  import  from  Europe,  and  sell  their  own 
goods,  there  are  ten  fail  whose  business  consists  in  exporting 
and  leaving  to  others  the  sale  of  their  goods,  as  happens  with 
those,  for  example,  who  trade  to  the  West  Indies. 

As  to  the  fact  mentioned  by  the  Secretary,  that  "  this  advan- 
tage is  greatly  increased  under  the  operation  of  the  classifica- 
tion of  woollen  cloths,"  we  would  simply  remark,  that  this  in- 
crease arises  from  the  gross  absurdity  of  the  law,  which  im- 
poses twice  the  duty  upon  a  square  yard  of  cloth  which  costs 
101  cents,  that  it  does  upon  one  that  costs  99  cents.  And  is  it 
a  matter  to  be  complained  of,  that  merchants  should  use  every 
possible  effort  to  buy  upon  the  most  favourable  terms,  in  order 
that  they  may  be  able  to  sell  to  the  consumers,  coarse  cloths, 
one-third  cheaper  than  they  could  do,  if  they  had  not  been  able 
to  obtain  a  reduction  from  the  foreign  manufacturer  of  two 
cents  a  yard  1 

But,  to  remedy  these  supposed  evils,  it  is  proposed  to  alter 
the  mode  of  valuation,  by  taking  the  market  value  in  the  Uni- 
ted States,  of  imported  commodities,  as  the  basis  of  the  cal- 
culation. To  this  plan,  the  Secretary  says,  "  the  only  objec- 
tions which  appear  to  have  weight,  are :  1st,  the  difficulty  of 
making  so  minute  an  appraisement  as  would  be  necessary,  of 


236  ESSAYS    ON    THE     PRINCIPLES 

all  the  articles  of  importation,  without  a  considerable  increase 
of  custom-house  officers — and,  2d,  of  making  the  appraisement 
uniform  at  all  the  ports."  The  first  objection,  he  thinks,  can 
"  be  obviated,  by  arranging  the  goods  into  classes  according  to 
value,  in  such  manner  as  to  render  the  appraisement  not  more 
laborious  than  at  present."  If  the  question  was  one  of  labour 
simply,  the  position  of  the  Secretarj-  might  possibly  be  right. 
But  it  is  not  so.  It  is  one  involving  a  degree  of  skill  and  inte- 
grity, and  an  acquaintance  with  the  daily  transactions  of  the 
market,  which  no  man  or  set  of  men  could  possibly  possess. 
Amongst  the  articles  imported  from  aboad,  and  which  are 
subject  to  an  ad  valorem  duty,  there  are  hundreds  of  articles, 
particularly  fancy  goods,  of  which  no  market  price  can  be 
fixed,  except  by  the  actual  chaffering  between  buyer  and  sell- 
er. There  are,  besides,  every  day  imported  new  articles,  ne- 
ver before  manufactured,  the  market  price  of  which  can  only 
be  determined  by  the  actual  sales  of  the  day,  which  sales  can- 
not be  made  until  the  goods  have  passed  the  custom-house. 
To  require  an  invoice,  on  oath,  from  the  importer,  of  the  va- 
lue, in  the  United  States,  of  his  goods,  would  be,  to  require 
from  a  merchant  the  secrets  of  his  trade,  and  at  the  same  time 
to  tempt  the  veracity  of  some,  and  to  expose  others  to  impu- 
tations of  fraud ufent  designs,  in  case  their  estimates  should 
happen  to  be  below  the  prices  which  they  afterwards  find  can 
be  obtained.  Besides,  the  market  price  is  not  always  a  fixed 
point.  It  ranges  over  a  surface  of  five  to  twenty  per  centum, 
in  a  great  variety  of  articles,  and  two  men,  equally  honest  and 
conscientious,  might  be  found  taking  oaths,  on  the  same  day, 
varying  so  widely  as  to  render  one  of  them  suspected  of  a 
fraudulent  undervaluing. 

In  reference  to  the  second  objection,  the  Secretary  thinks  it 
can  be  obviated  "  by  establishing  a  regular  intercommunication 
and  transmission  of  prices  current  and  samples  between  the 
custom-houses."  Let  us  see  how  this  would  operate.  There 
are  near  a  hundred  custom-houses  in  as  many  ports.  Each  one 
is  to  send  a  price  current  and  a  sample  of  every  individual  ar- 
ticle, and  of  every  quality  of  that  article — how  often  we  are  not 
told,  and  whither  we  are  not  told.  It  can  hardly  be  to  each 
of  the  other  ninety-nine  custom-houses.  We  will  suppose  it 
to  be  to  some  central  city,  where  a  Board  is  to  be  established 
for  the  purpose  of  settling  the  valuation.  This  can  only  be 
done  by  taking  the  averages,  and  the  tariff  valuation  would 
then  be  a  rate  which,  perhaps,  would  correspond  with  the  mar- 
ket price  of  no  one  principal  port.  It  would  be  below  that  of 
some  places,  and  above  that  of  others,  and  would  thus  operate 
unequally.  But  this  is  not  the  worst  of  it.  This  average 
would  be  constantly  changing,  and,  whilst  one  merchant  in 
one  port  was  entering  his  goods  at  one  valuation,  another,  at 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  237 

a  more  distant  port,  would  be  entering  his  at  a  different  one. 
In  fine,  we  do  really  believe  the  scheme  of  the  Secretary  to 
be  wholly  impracticable,  and  we  are  quite  persuaded  that  the 
present  system  of  valuation  would  be  found  to  be  equally  ex- 
ceptionable, were  it  not  for  the  aid  of  the  invoices  of  the  cost 
of  the  goods  abroad,  that  furnish  a  key  to  the  appraisers,  with- 
out which  they  would  be  as  incapable  of  forming  a  sound 
judgment  of  market  prices,  as  a  strange  navigator,  on  our  coast, 
would  be,  without  a  chart.  But  why  require  the  oath  of  a  mer- 
chant to  a  fact,  the  correctness  of  which  he  can  only  guess,, 
when  you  are  not  willing  to  take  his  oath  as  to  a  fact  of  which 
he  is  sure  1 

But,  there  is  another  objection  to  this  system  of  valuation, 
having  quite  as  much  weight  as  either  of  the  others,  which  ap- 
pears to  have  escaped  the  notice  of  the  Secretary.  It  is,  that 
no  greater  obstruction  can  be  thrown  into  the  way  of  foreign 
commerce,  than  uncertainty  as  to  what  duty  will  be  payable  on 
the  importation  of  merchandise.  Every  one  who  is  acquainted 
with  the  operations  of  trade,  knows,  that  a  variation  of  one  or 
two  per  cent.,  even  in  the  rate  of  exchange,  very  frequently  de- 
cides a  merchant  to  order  goods  from  abroad,  or  to  suspend  his 
orders.  According  to  the  Secretary's  plan  no  one  can  tell,  at 
any  one  period,  what  would  be  the  rate  of  duty  at  the  time  his 
goods  should  arrive — and  how  could  any  certain  calculations 
be  made  of  the  cost  of  importation  ?  It  will  be  answered,  that, 
if  the  duty  rises,  the  price  will  also  have  risen,  and  that  will 
compensate  the  merchant.  But  will  it  compensate  the  con- 
sumer ?  Is  it  not  enough  that  the  consumer  should  pay  an  in- 
creased price  for  an  article,  but  that  he  must  also  be  compelled 
to  pay  an  increased  tax  upon  it  1  Sound  policy,  and  considera- 
tions for  the  public,  would  rather  seem  to  favour  an  opposite 
rule,  as  the  British  do  with  their  corn-laws,  that  is,  diminish  the 
duty  as  the  price  rises,  in  order  that  the  burthen  may  not  fall 
too  heavily  on  any  one  article. 

But  independent  of  the  interests  of  the  consumer,  the  mer- 
chant himself  would  much  prefer  leaving  the  duty  as  it  now  is, 
for,  under  a  system  like  ours,  where  there  are  duties  of  100  per 
cent.,  and  where  a  rise  in  the  market  price  of  ten  per  cent, 
would  make  a  rise  also  in  the  duty  of  ten  per  cent.,  nothing 
would  be  gained  ;  and  even  with  respect  to  articles  which  pay 
but  50  per  cent,  duty,  not  enough  would  be  gained  to  compen- 
sate for  the  uncertainty  of  the  duty,  and  for  the  diminished  de- 
mand necessarily  arising  from  the  increased  price,  occasioned 
by  the  increased  duty. 

The  argument  employed  by  the  Secretary  as  one  of  the  rea- 
sons for  the  proposed  change,  viz.,  that,  owing  to  an  alteration 
in  the  relative  value  of  gold  and  silver,  since  the  pound  sterling 
was  declared  by  law  to  be  the  equivalent  of  ^4.44,  which  has 


238  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

rendered  the  former  in  reality  the  equivalent  of  $4.80,  is  sound 
enough.  It  is  perfectly  true,  that  the  importer  from  Great 
Britain  pays  duty  on  7^  per  cent,  less  than  the  actual  cost 
in  silver  of  his  goods.  But,  notwithstanding  this,  he  pays  the 
duty  which  the  law  intended  he  should  pay ;  for,  those  who 
made  the  law  could  not  have  been  ignorant  of  a  fact  known  to 
have  existed  for  more  than  ten  years.  Any  new  rating  of  the 
value  in  silver  of  the  pound  sterling,  therefore,  would  be  a  vir- 
tual increase  of  the  duty  ;  and,  as  this  is  admitted  by  the  Se- 
cretary, we  take  great  pleasure  in  again  finding  ourselves  in 
agreement  with  him.  What  is  also  said  relative  to  the  depre- 
ciated currencies  of  foreign  countries,  is  also  true  enough,  but 
a  better  remedy  for  the  evil  than  that  of  valueing  goods  in  the 
United  States,  would  be,  to  let  every  invoice  made  out  in  a  fo- 
reign depreciated  currency,  be  accompanied  by  consular  or 
other  certificates,  of  the  true  value,  in  eiiective  money,  of  the 
said  depreciated  currency. 


ESSAY    No.    LXXVI. 

DECEMBER  29,   1830. 


A  Copper  mine  discovered.     Extent  of  taxation  imposed  by  the 
American  System. 

THE  following  piece  of  intelligence  we  have  copied  from  an- 
other paper : 

"  Another  Copper  Mine. — The  Norristown  (Pa.)  Herald,  of 
Tuesday,  says :  "  The  Perkiomen  Copper-Mining  Company 
have  lately  discovered  another  copper-mine,  in  Frederick  town- 
ship, on  a  tract  of  land  a  few  miles  above  their  old  mine,  which, 
from  the  abundance  of  red,  green,  and  blue  copper  ore,  taken 
out  but  a  few  feet  below  the  surface,  promises  to  be  of  vast  im- 
portance. Experienced  miners,  who  have  examined  the  mine 
and  ore,  say,  that  it  far  exceeds  any  of  the  kind  they  have  ever 
seen  in  Europe  or  America.  The  company  have  purchased  the 
tract  of  land,  containing  one  hundred  acres,  where  the  copper 
has  been  discovered,  and  also  the  tract  adjoining,  containing 
one  hundred  and  fifty  acres,  by  which  they  will  gain  water- 
power  sufficient,  not  only  to  work  all  the  pumps  required,  but 
also  for  any  machinery  or  mill  works  which  may  be  necessary. 
The  superintendant  will  be  at  the  mine  on  Thursday  next,  when 
those  who  wish  to  see  it  are  invited  to  attend.  A  few  shares  of 
stock,  ire  itnderstand,  are  for  sale." 

The  concluding  sentence  of  the  foregoing  article  looks  ama- 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  239 

zingly  as  if  this  copper-mine  was  got  up  for  a  speculation.  Be 
this,  however,  as  it  may,  we  venture  to  predict,  that,  before 
another  Congress  goes  round,  we  shall  see  this  concern  send- 
ing in  their  petition  for  a  protecting  duty  upon  copper.  They 
will  probably  set  forth,  that  the  wealth  of  a  country  consists  in 
its  mineral  treasures ;  that  the  mines  of  Perkiomen  are  too  bar- 
ren to  be  worked,  unless  pig  copper  can  be  made  to  bring  40 
or  50  cents  a  pound,  as  in  the  good  old  war  times ;  that  it  is 
now  selling  at  18  cents  ;  that  it  is  an  outrageous  shame  that 
there  should  be  no  duty  on  an  article  so  essential  for  the  build- 
ing of  ships,  as  sheathing  copper,  and  so  small  a  one  as  four 
cents  a  pound  on  bolts ;  and  that  a  commodity  so  necessary  for 
the  distillers  of  whiskey  and  rum,  as  copper  bottoms,  should 
be  admitted  at  15  per  cent.  If  this  petition  be  listened  to,  it 
will  probably  induce  a  hundred  others,  who  happen  to  have 
land  upon  which  symptoms  of  copper  ore  have  appeared,  also 
to  fall  to  mining,  and,  as  the  first  duty  cannot  answer  their  pur- 
poses, they  will  apply  for  an  increase  of  it ;  and  it  is  not  un- 
likely, if  the  present  mania  for  conferring  legislative  monopo- 
hes  be  not  arrested,  we  shall  have  another  blow  aimed  at  the 
ship-building  interest,  which  will  take  out  of  the  pockets  of  the 
merchants,  ten  thousand  dollars,  for  the  sake  of  putting  one  in- 
to the  pockets  of  the  Perkiomen  Mining  Company,  who,  it 
seems,  are  wealthy  people,  able  to  afford  to  give  a  good  price 
for  two  hundred  and  fifty  acres  of  land.  Our  prediction  on 
this  head,  is  not,  at  this  day,  more  foreign  to  probability,  than 
would  have  been,  two  years  ago,  one  anticipating  that  an  at- 
tempt would  be  made  to  get  a  duty  on  foreign  hides,  in  order 
to  put  money  into  the  pockets  of  the  graziers ;  and  yet  we  have 
seen  such  an  attempt  made.  The  truth  is,  that  the  desire  of  grow- 
ing rich,  at  other  people's  expense,  has  become  so  general,  that 
every  body  seems  to  be  planning  some  scheme  by  which  he 
can  have  a  monopoly  against  every  body  else.  The  only  re- 
medy w^e  can  devise,  in  the  case,  is  this,  and  we  do  most  earn- 
estly recommend  it  to  our  friends  in  Congress,  for  adoption. 
Whenever  the  substance  of  a  petition  is  announced  by  a  mem- 
ber, which,  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  are  not  initiated  in  le- 
gislative mysteries,  we  will  state,  is  the  only  mode  in  w-hich 
nine  out  of  ten  petitions  are  served  up — let  some  one  ask  him 
how  much  cash  will  satisfy  the  petitioners.  As  soon  as  this  is 
ascertained,  let  provision  be  made  for  raising  the  money  by  di- 
rect taxes  from  the  people,  and  let  the  applicants  be  bought  off 
at  once.  Depend  upon  it,  that  an  annual  tax  of  ten  millions  of 
dollars,  to  pay  gratuities,  would  occasion  an  immense  saving 
to  the  country,  which,  in  our  humble  estimation,  does  not  main- 
tain its  present  system  of  revenue  and  protection  together,  at 
a  less  cost  then  five  dollars  a  head  upon  the  whole  population, 
that  is,  sixty  millions  of  dollars  per  annum.     If  any  man  doubts 


240  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

this,  let  him  put  these  questions  to  himself,  and  he  will  soon  be 
convinced : 

How  much  more  do  I  pay  for  the  foreign  goods  consumed 
by  my  family,  than  they  could  be  bought  for,  if  there  was  no 
duty  'I. 

How  much  more  do  I  pay  for  goods  of  domestic  production, 
than  I  would  have  to  pay,  if  there  was  no  duty  to  shut  out  the 
foreign  competition  ? 

How  much  do  I  pay  for  every  thing  I  use,  foreign  and  do- 
mestic, in  consequence  of  every  body  of  whom  I  purchase  be- 
ing obliged,  as  I  am,  to  pay  dearer  for  the  articles  above-men- 
tioned I 

A  little  acquaintance  with  the  iniquitous  character  of  the 
American  System,  which  reverses  the  rule  of  taxation  that  be- 
longs to  other  governments,  and  compels  people  to  pay  high 
rates  in  proportion  to  their  poverty,  and  not  in  proportion  to 
their  wealth,  would  soon  convince  any  one  that  the  estimate 
we  have  assumed  is  quite  within  bounds.  There  is  nothing  that 
we  eat,  or  drink,  or  wear,  that  is  not  taxed,  one  way  or  an- 
other. Our  cofiee,  tea,  chocolate,  and  sugar,  are  taxed.  Our 
milk  and  bread  are  taxed,  because  we  must  pay  the  milkman 
and  baker  more  for  those  articles  than  they  would  sell  them  for 
if  they  were  not  taxed  like  ourselves.  We  are  taxed  in  our 
meat,  and  poultry,  and  fish,  in  the  same  way.  We  are  taxed 
in  our  wine,  brandy,  and  whiskey.  The  table  is  taxed,  the  ta- 
ble-cloth is  taxed,  the  plates,  and  knives,  and  forks,  and  the 
glasses,  are  all  taxed.  The  pepper,  and  salt,  the  oil,  and  vine- 
gar, are  taxed.  Our  hats,  coats,  vests,  pantaloons,  boots,  shoes, 
linen,  cravats,  flannel,  pocket  handkerchiefs,  suspenders,  are 
all  taxed.  The  hats,  and  gowns,  and  cloaks,  and  every  other 
article  of  apparel  for  females  and  children  are  taxed.  We 
write  on  taxed  paper,  with  a  taxed  pen,  made  with  a  taxed 
penknife,  and  seal  a  letter  with  a  taxed  wafer  or  wax.  We 
walk  with  a  taxed  cane,  shoot  game  with  a  taxed  gun,  taxed 
powder,  and  taxed  shot,  or  kill  a  buck  with  a  taxed  rifle.  We 
ride  in  a  taxed  stagecoach,  we  take  a  trip  in  a  taxed  steam- 
boat, or  drive  a  taxed  wagon,  over  a  taxed  road.  In  fine,  in 
whatever  direction  we  turn  our  heads,  taxation  stares  us  in  the 
face — and,  if  we  only  had  candour  enough  to  confess  the  truth, 
we  would  all  acknowledge  that  a  more  tax-ridden  people,  than 
we  boasters  of  light  taxes  and  economical  government  are,  is 
not  to  be  found  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 

And  cui  bono  ?  More  than  half  of  it,  for  the  benefit  of  a 
mere  handful  of  monopolists,  whom  it  would  be  infinitely  bet- 
ter to  maintain  directly  out  of  the  public  treasury,  than  to  al- 
low to  put  their  fingers  into  the  people's  pockets,  in  the  manner 
they  now  do. 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  241 


ESSAY   No.   LXXVII. 

JANUARY    12,    1831. 

Enumeration  of  articles  that  have  fallen  in  price.     True  cau^ 
ses  of  that  fall. 

THE  New  England  Farmer,  an  agricultural  paper,  it  seems, 
has  taken  up  the  cause  of  the  manufacturing  corporations  of 
Boston,  and  has  come  out  with  a  list  of  benefits  resulting  from 
the  high  duty  system.     The  following  is  an  extract. 

From  the  National  Journal  of  1st  January. 

"A  few  such  facts  as  we  find  thrown  together  in  the  New 
England  Farmer — a  work  of  increasing  merit  and  reputation 
— speak  an  intelligible  language  as  to  the  "  effects  of  the  tariff," 
and  we  readily  quote  them. 

*  Flannels  have  been  reduced  in  price  from  23  cents  to  17 
cents  per  yard. 

'  Cotton  manufactures  have  fallen  fjftyper  cent.  A  man  can 
buy  a  shirt  for  halfichat  it  used  to  cost. 

'Chemical  preparations  have  i'aWen ffty  per  cent. 

'  Window  glass,  in  1816  worth  $  15  per  100  square  feet,  now 
sells  for  $7.50.  As  rnanij  tumblers  can  be  bought  now  for  50 
cents  as  used  to  cost  us  $  1. 

'  Lead  and  all  its  manufactures  are  reduced  in  cost. 

'  The  duty  on  pig  lead  is  3  cents  per  lb.  and  its  price  3  cents 
per  lb. 

'Gunpowder  has  fallen  from  45  cents  to  22,  and  even  10  or 
12  cents  per  lb. 

'  Spirits  of  Turpentine  50  cents  in  1823,  now  30  cents  per 
gallon. 

'  Cyphering  slates  are  33  and  one-third  per  cent,  cheaper,  in 
consequence  of  a  duty  of  33  and  one-third  per  cent. 

'Castor  oil  in  1824  was  $3  per  gallon ;  in  consequence  of  a 
duty  of  40  per  cent,  it  fell  to  $1.50  per  gallon. 

'  Before  we  made  fire  brick  we  paid  England  $70  per  1000. 
Now  they  are  made  as  good  by  ourselves  for  $30  per  1000, 
in  consequence  of  a  'protecting  tariff. 

'  This  hst  might  be  extended  to  fifty  other  articles. 

'  Notwithstanding  the  tariff",  the  tonnage,  foreign  and  coast- 
ing, of  the  United  States,  has  been  steadily  and  rapidly  increas- 
ing for  the  last  fifteen  years. 

'  The  revenue  from  imposts  has  steadily  increased — not  so 
much  from  the  increase  of  duties,  as  from  the  obvious  reason, 
that  the  more  we  have  to  sell,  the  more  we  can  huy.^ 

"  Let  the  people  examine  info  these  facts,  and  since  the  presi- 
dential contest  is  placed  bv  the  friends  of  the  administration  on 
X 


242  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

that  footing,  let  them  decide  which  they  will  have — General 
Jackson,  or  the  tariff  system." 

This  list  will  probably  have  a  wide  circulation  through  the 
tariff  papers,  and  will  no  doubt  carry  conviction  to  the  minds 
of  all  who  have  not  sense  enough  to  discriminate  between  a 
cause  which  is  capable  of  producing,  and  one  which  is  not  ca- 
pable of  producing,  a  given  effect,  or,  who  have  not  honesty 
enough  to  listen  to  arguments  that  militate  against  their  pock- 
ets. It  may  even  stagger  some  who  have  sense  and  honesty 
both,  but  that  can  only  be  for  a  short  season,  for,  as  soon  as 
the  fallacy  in  which  these  assertions  are  enveloped  is  stripped 
off',  they  will  abandon  the  delusion. 

The  foregoing  list  is  nothing  but  a  short  abridgment  of  Mr. 
Niles'  "  Politics  for  Farmers,"  published  last  autumn,  and  is 
one  of  the  many  evidences  afforded  of  the  facility  with  which 
error  can  be  circulated,  when  the  press  is  under  the  control  of 
those  whose  interests  or  political  aggrandisement  are  to  be  pro- 
moted by  it.  Now,  the  fallacy  in  this  article  consists  in  two  par- 
ticulars : 

First.  In  ascribing  to  our  tariff  the  fall  in  prices  referred  to ; 
and, 

Secondly.  In  concealing  the  fact,  that,  if  the  tariff  were  out 
of  the  way,  all  these  articles,  except  lead  and  spirits  of  turpen- 
tine, would  be  still  cheaper  than  they  now  are. 

The  fact  is,  that  owing  to  general  causes,  which  have  been 
in  operation  for  centuries,  throughout  the  industrious  world, 
and  more  especially  since  the  last  general  pacification  of  Eu- 
rope, the  powers  of  human  labour  have  been  greatly  multiplied 
in  all  the  departments  of  industry,  whether  connected  with 
agriculture,  commerce,  or  manufactures.  In  every  branch,  al- 
most, labour-saving  machines  have  been  introduced-,  and  in  eve- 
ry trade  and  occupation  that  can  be  named,  have  improved 
skill,  ingenuity,  and  dexterity,  added  to  the  productive  powers 
of  the  hand.  Improvements  in  agricultural  implements,  new 
discoveries  in  modes  of  tillage,  and  of  preparing  composts  and 
manures,  have  greatly  increased  the  productive  powers  of  land 
and  labour.  Improvements  in  ship-building,  and  in  the  rigging 
and  sails  of  vessels,  and  in  the  science  of  navigation,  have  add- 
ed vastly  to  the  productive  power  of  the  labour  of  merchants 
and  seamen.  Improvements  in  machinery  and  mechanics'  in- 
struments, have,  in  the  same  manner,  abridged  the  process  and 
labour  by  which  manufactures  are  produced.  All  the  elements 
have  been  placed  in  requisition,  and  earth,  and  water,  and  air, 
and  fire  itself,  have  all  been  forced,  by  the  mighty  powers  of 
the  mind  of  man,  to  render  far  greater  services  to  the  human 
family,  than  they  were  formerly  supposed  capable  of  domg.  Is 
it  then  any  wonder,  that  articles,  destined  to  supply  the  wants 
of  society,  should  fall  in  price,  seeing  that  they  can  be  produ- 


OP    FREE    TRADE.  243 

ced  with  so  much  less  human  labour  than  before  ?  Unquestion- 
ably not — and  hence  we  find  that  there  is  not  a  single  article, 
of  any  description,  which  is  not  now  cheaper  than  it  was  in  1816, 
unless  it  be  some  few  productions  of  agriculture,  of  which,  from 
natural  causes,  the  supply  cannot  be  increased. 

To  leave  no  doubt  upon  this  subject,  it  is  our  intention,  in  a 
short  time,  to  bring  into  the  view  of  the  readers  of  this  journal 
a  list  of  articles  with  which  our  protective  system  has  had  no- 
thing to  do,  showing  their  prices,  at  New  York,  in  the  year 
1816,  and  at  this  day,  and  we  will  then  leave  it  to  any  candid 
man  to  judge  whether  there  is  any  foundation  for  ascribing  the 
fall  cf  the  protected  articles  to  the  tariff.  If  articles  not  pro- 
tected have  fallen  as  much  as  those  which  have  been  protected, 
all  will  allow  that  it  at  least  renders  questionable  the  assump- 
tion of  the  advocates  of  high  duties,  that  our  tariff  has  exclu- 
sively occasioned  the  fall.  At  present,  we  shall  contesit  our- 
selves with  showing,  that,  whilst  we  admit  that  such  a  fall  in 
prices  has  taken  place  as  is  contended  for,  yet,  that,  were  it  not 
for  our  high  duties,  all  the  articles  enumerated  would  be  cheap- 
er still.  This  is  the  true  question  to  be  submitted  to  the  people, 
and  this  is  the  question  that  every  editor,  who  believes  in  the 
truth  of  the  free  trade  doctrines,  is  bound  to  present  to  his  read- 
ers.    But,  let  us  examine  these  statements  separately. 

"  Flannels  have  been  reduced  in  price  from  23  cents  to  17 
cents  per  yard." 

The  Farmer  has  not  here  faithfully  copied  his  original.  Mr. 
Niles  did  not  quote  flannels  as  an  article  that  had  fallen,  but 
one  that  had  not  risen  in  consequence  of  the  tax  imposed  upon 
them  in  1824  and  1828.  Both,  however,  have  greatly  erred. 
The  real  fact  is,  that  flannels,  owing  to  the  existing  duty  of 
22^  cts.  per  square  yard,  do  now  sell  for  forty  cents  per  square 
yard — which,  were  it  not  for  the  duty,  icould  he  sold  at  17 J 
cents. 

"  Cotton  manufactures  have  fallen  50  per  centum :  a  man 
can  buy  a  shirt  for  half  what  it  used  to  cost." 

This  is  perfectly  true,  but  it  is  also  true,  that,  were  it  not  for 
the  prohibitory  duty,  a  man  could  buy  three  shirts  for  the  same 
sum  he  now  has  to  pay  for  two.  Else,  why  adhere  to  a  pro- 
hibitory duty  of  50  to  175  per  cent,  upon  coarse  cottons  ? 

"  Chemical  preparations  have  fallen  50  per  cent." 

True  again,  but,  were  it  not  for  the  existing  duty,  a  still 
greater  fall  would  take  place,  as  is  manifest  from  the  high  du- 
ties kept  on,  to  exclude  the  foreign  article. 

"  Window  glass,  in  1816,.  worth  $15  per  100  square  feet, 
now  sells  at  $7.50.  As  many  tumblers  can  be  bought  now  for 
50  cents,  as  used  to  cost  us  $  1." 

All   true  enough — but,  notwithstanding  this,   English  glass 


244  ESSAYS    ON    THE     PRINCIPLES 

continues  to  be  imported,  although  subject  to  a  duty  of  $3  to 
$5  per  one  hundred  feet,  and  could  be  sold  below  $7.50  were 
it  not  for  the  duty.  And,  were  it  not  for  the  duty,  as  many 
tumblers  could  be  had  for  33  cents,  as  are  now  bought  with 
50  cents. 

"  Lead  and  all  its  manufactures  are  reduced  in  cost.  The 
duty  on  pig  lead  is  three  cents  per  lb.,  and  its  price  is  three 
cents  per  lb." 

The  duty  on  pig  lead  is  prohibitory.  Its  present  low  price 
arises  from  the  great  fertility  of  the  American  lead  mines, 
which  have,  within  a  few  years,  come  into  our  possession,  by 
Indian  treaties.  As  to  the  manufactures  of  lead,  were  it  not 
for  the  duty,  low  as  they  are,  they  would  be  sold  as  follows  : 

White  lead,  dry,  5  cts.  per  lb.  cheaper  than  now ; 

"  ground  in  oil,  5  cts.  per  lb.  cheaper  than  now ; 

Sheet  lead,  3.  cts.  per  lb.  cheaper  than  now ; 
for  all  these  articles  are  still  imported,  subject  to  those  rates  of 
duty. 

And,  that  the  reader  may  see  the  operation  of  this  system 
upon  the  painting  of  houses  and  barns,  to  protect  them  from 
the  weather,  we  will  quote  the  actual  prices  in  New  York,  at 
which,  this  day,  the  above  articles  can  be  purchased  for  ex- 
portation : 

White  lead,  English  dry,  $4  per  cwt. ; 

"  English  ground  in  oil,  $5  per  cwt. ; 

Sheet  lead,  2^  cents  per  lb. 

Let  any  man  compare  these  prices,  which  are  those  at  which 
a  foreigner  can  get  supplied  in  our  market,  with  those  that  a 
resident  citizen  has  to  pay,  and  the  fallacy  of  his  being  bene- 
fited by  high  duties  will  very  soon  be  apparent. 

"  Gunpowder  has  fallen  from  45  cents  to  22,  and  even  10  or 
12  cents  per  pound." 

English  gunpowder  can  now  be  bought  in  the  New  York 
market /or  exportation  at  from  17  cents  per  pound,  down  to  six 
cents  per  pound.  The  lowest  quotation  for  American,  is  13 
cents  per  pound.  Let  the  friends  of  Internal  Improvements, 
by  states  and  corporations,  who  want  to  blow  rocks,  look  at 
this.  Let  the  sharp-shooters  of  the  West,  and  the  farmers  who 
are  digging  wells,  look  also  at  this.  If  it  were  not  for  the  high 
duties,  they  would  be  able  to  buy  a  pound  and  a  half  of  powder 
for  the  price  they  now  have  to  pay  for  one. 

"  Spirits  of  turpentine,  50  cents  in  1823,  now  30  cents  per  gal- 
lon." 

Now  here  we  admit  there  has  been  a  considerable  fall,  and 
we  are  not  aware  that  the  removal  of  the  duty  upon  this  arti- 
cle, would  make  it  come  any  lower.  But  why  do  these  bung- 
lers furnish  their  opponents  with  a  stick  to  break  their  own 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  245 

heads  1  The  duty  on  spirits  of  turpentine,  since  the  institution 
of  the  government,  was  never  more  than  fifteen  per  cent.,  and 
the  success  of  its  manufacture  is  to  be  ascribed  to  the  protection 
which  the  raw  material  has  received  from  the  hardy  sons  of  the 
forests  of  North  Carolina,  who  need  no  taxes  upon  their  fellow- 
citizens  to  enable  them  to  prosper.  We  wonder  these  humour- 
ists did  not  bring  in  tar,  pitch,  and  rosin,  for  they  have  also 
fallen  greatly  too,  under  a  similar  duty  of  15  per  cent. 

"  Cyphering  slates  are  33  and  one-third  per  cent,  cheaper  in 
consequence  of  a  duty  of  33  and  one-third  per  cent. 

Now,  if  it  be  true,  that  cyphering  slates  are  33  and  one-third 
per  cent,  cheaper  than  they  used  to  be,  we  alfirm,  without  fear 
of  contradiction,  that  if  it  were  not  for  the  duty,  they  would  be 
33  and  one-third  per  cent,  cheaper  still,  because  they  conti- 
nue to  be  imported  under  that  duty,  and  sold  to  the  retail  mer- 
chants and  stationers.  Nothing  can  be  clearer  than  this,  that, 
so  long  as  an  article  continues  to  be  regularly  imported  under 
the  high  duties,  so  long  is  it  incontrovertibly  proved,  that,  were 
it  not  for  the  duty,  the  price  would  be  just  so  much  less. 

"Castor  oil,  in  1824,  was  $3  per  gallon;  in  consequence  of 
a  duty  of  40  per  cent.,  it  fell  to  $  1.50  per  gallon." 

The  duty  imposed  in  1824  was  not,  as  here  stated,  40  per 
cent.,  but  40  cents  per  gallon,  which  was  not  equal  to  15  per  ct.; 
but,  if  it  were  not  for  the  duty,  it  would  be  still  forty  cents 
cheaper.  As  proof  of  this,  we  refer  to  the  last  Treasury 
Statement  of  Imports  that  has  been  published,  where  it  appears 
that  six  hundred  and  eleven  gallons  of  castor  oil  were  import- 
ed, in  the  year  1820,  from  the  Dutch  West  Indies,  the  cost  of 
which  was  $231 ;  that  is,  something  less  than  38  cents  per 
gallon.     Its  present  price,  in  New  York,  is  100  cents. 

"  Before  we  made  fire-bricks,  we  paid  England  $70  per  1000. 
Now  they  are  made  as  good,  by  ourselves,  for  $30  per  1000, 
in  consequence  of  a  protecting  tariff." 

The  bungle  committed  here  is  precisely  the  same  as  that  in 
relation  to  the  spirits  of  turpentine,  and  it  was  pointed  out  in  a 
communication  from  our  shrewd  correspondent  "  An  Opera- 
tive Manufacturer,"  in  our  paper  of  the  22d  ult.,  who  showed 
that,  not  only  was  the  duty  on  bricks  but  15  per  cent.,  but  that 
English  ones  had  been  imported  and  sold  in  Philadelphia,  last 
year,  at  $21  per  1000. 

"  This  list  might  be  extended  to  fifty  articles." 

Aye — and  every  one  of  them  could  be  disposed  of  in  the 
same  way. 

"Notwithstanding  the  tariff,  the  tonnage,  foreign  and  coast- 
ing, of  the  United  States,  has  been  steadily  and  rapidlj^ncreas- 
ing  for  the  last  fifteen  years." 
X* 


246  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in  his  late  report,  asserts 
that  our  tonnage  has  fallen  off  in  the  aggregate,  and  his  autho- 
rity upon  that  point  we  hold  to  be  much  better  than  that  of  the 
New  England  Farmer.  If  the  coasting  tonnage  has  increas- 
ed, it  is  owing  wholly  to  the  'principles  of  free  trade  betiveen  the 
dijf'erent  states  being  thus  far  suflered  to  remain  without  vio- 
lation— and,  great  as  this  trade  now  is,  it  would  have  been  far 
greater  had  the  same  principles  been  allowed  to  operate  in  our 
intercourse  with  foreign  nations. 

"  The  revenue  from  imposts  has  steadily  increased — not  so 
much  from  the  increase  of  the  duties,  as  from  the  obvious  rea- 
son, that,  the  more  we  have  to  sell,  the  more  we  can  buy." 

Now,  although  the  latter  branch  of  this  sentence  is  perfectly 
true,  yet  the  reasoning  in  relation  to  it  is  droll  enough  :  The 
revenue  has  increased,  because  "  The  more  we  have  to  sell,  the 
more  we  can  buy."  But  did  we  sell  more,  and  did  we  buy 
more?  Facts,  stubborn  facts,  stare  this  Farmer  in  the  face, 
and  disprove  his  loose  allegations.  In  an  article  in  our  last  pa- 
per, we  showed  that  the  falling  off  in  our  imports,  upon  an  ave- 
rage of  the  five  years  which  have  elapsed  since  1825,  has  been 
upwards  of  sixteen  millions  of  dollars  per  annum — a  fact  to 
which  our  attention  had  been  drawn  by  the  Treasury  Report. 
It  is,  therefore,  not  a  fact  that  the  increase  of  revenue  has 
arisen  from  increased  importations,  which  is  the  position  intend- 
ed to  be  laid  down  ;  and  in  reality  it  is  not  even  a  fact  that  the 
revenue  from  imposts  has  increased  at  all,  for  since  the  year 
1825  the  annual  average  has  been  less  than  the  amount  of  that 
year,  and  during  the  last  three  years  it  has  been  nearly  station- 
ary. The  reason,  however,  why  it  has  not  fallen  off  is,  be- 
cause the  duties  have  been  increased — for  otherwise  there  would 
have  been  a  falling  off  in  the  revenue,  exactly  proportionate  to 
the  falling  off  in  the  imports,  had  the  imports  fallen  off,  which  is 
not  probable. 

If  this  is  the  sort  of  political  arithmetic  by  which  candidates 
are  to  be  advanced  to  high  political  stations,  we  hope  that 
every  honest  citizen  who  has  any  regard  for  the  reputation  and 
interests  of  the  country,  will  well  reflect  upon  it.  When  we 
meet  with  a  man  who  really  does  not  understand  the  subject, 
we  can  pity  the  vanity  which  leads  him  to  expose  his  ignorance. 
But  when  we  see  assertions  ushered  forth  as  facts,  which  must 
be  known  to  many  who  circulate  them  as  wholly  destitute  of 
foundation,  we  are  not  able  to  reconcile  such  conduct  with  the 
faithful  discharge  of  editorial  duties. 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  247 

ESSAY    No.    LXXVIII. 

JANUARY    12,    1831. 

The  story  of  John,  Monsieur  Crapeau,  and  Jonathan,  as  illus- 
trative of  the  absurdity  of  the  doctrine  that  industry  pros- 
pers by  restrictions. 

THE  following  remarks  appeared  in  the  National  Journal  of 
the  first  instant : 

"  The  Tariff  P'' — It  has  been  declared  in  the  New  York  Even- 
ing Post,  that  the  next  Presidential  Election  will  decide  the  fate 
of  the  tariff".  Mr.  Cambreleng  has  told  us,  on  the  floor  of  Con- 
gress, that  a  revolution  is  about  to  take  place  in  the  affairs  of 
this  country ;  and  has  pretty  distinctly  indicated  that  this  revolu- 
tion is  to  consist  in  the  abolition  of  the  Protective  System,  and 
the  introduction  of  what  he  and  other  visionaries  of  the  same 
school  designate  Free  Trade.  Public  attention  cannot  be  too 
forcibly  or  too  frequently  called  to  these  avowals  of  a  settled 
purpose  to  destroy  that  policy  which  the  wisest  men  in  our 
country  have  sanctioned  in  the  most  explicit  terms,  and  which 
all  previous  administrations  have  laboured  to  establish  and  per- 
petuate. The  people  of  every  section,  of  every  state,  county, 
town,  and  hamlet,  of  our  country,  should  be  made  to  understand 
the  great  aim.  of  those  who  are  seeking  to  re-elect  General 
Jackson ;  and,  understanding  it,  if  they  shall  think  proper  to 
give  to  it  their  aid,  we  are  ready  to  submit,  only  reserving  to 
ourselves  the  privilege  of  crying,  "  God  save  the  Republic  !" 
in  rather  a  more  modest  tone  than  heretofore. 

"  We  would  invoke  the  people,  however,  before  they  give  their 
assent  to  this  threatened  revolution,  to  thoroughly  understand  the 
system  which  is  to  be  revolutionized.  It  is  the  system  which  suj> 
ported  Great  Britain  through  a  quarter  of  a  century  of  sanguina- 
ry and  expensive  wars,  in  which  she  had  to  rely  more  on  her  pe- 
cuniary than  her  physical  resources ;  on  the  ingenuity  of  her 
financiers,  rather  than  the  skill  of  her  generals.  The  loom  did 
more  for  her  than  the  sword,  because  it  enabled  her  to  sup- 
ply plentifully,  and  in  perfection,  the  fabric  which  her  enemies, 
by  the  force  of  necessity,  were  compelled  to  take  at  her  hands, 
and  thus,  by  a  process  destructive  to  themselves,  to  be  constant- 
ly replenishing  her  treasury,  as  fast  as  it  was  exhausted,  and 
contributing  those  means  which  were  returned  to  them  in  dead- 
ly missiles  and  a  mortal  expenditure  of  munitions  of  war.  By 
the  power  of  her  machinery,  she  not  only  moved,  but  wielded 
the  world.  She  protected  her  manufactures,  and  they  gave 
back  an  opulent  recompense.  By  the  light  of  her  experience, 
our  wisest  statesmen  have  guided  the  policy  of  this  country ; 


248  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

and  it  is  only  now,  when  Great  Britain  has  discovered  that  we 
are  manufacturing  rivals,  from  whom  she  has  reason  to  appre- 
hend an  injurious  com])etition,  that  her  politicians  have  thrown 
out  a  set  of  glittering  theories  on  the  subject  of  the  freedom  of 
trade,  with  which  she  hopes  to  delude  us  from  the  path  of  pros- 
perity, and  to  turn  our  credulity  and  ignorance  to  her  own  ad- 
vantage. We  trust  the  people  will  be  wiser  than  their  rulers, 
and  not  suffer  themselves  to  be  caught  by  loose  speculations 
and  prettily  constructed  sophisms — that  they  will  hold  fast  to 
the  polic3'  which  has  worked  well,  and  not  foolishly  play  into 
the  hands  of  their  adversaries." 

The  foregoing  article,  which  ascribes  the  prosperity  of  Eng- 
land to  the  restrictive  system,  puts  us  in  mind  of  a  story,  which 
we  shall  relate,  for  the  amusement  of  our  readers. 

There  was  once  an  honest,  hard-working  fellow,  named  John, 
a  manufacturer  by  trade,  who  was  able,  by  dint  of  great  in- 
dustry and  close  application,  to  earn  three  shillings  sterling 
a  day.  lie  was  in  the  full  possession  of  all  his  limbs  and  ener- 
gies, but  one  day,  in  a  fit  of  mental  derangement,  he  cut  off 
one  of  his  fingers.  His  neighbours  all  pitied  him  greatly  on 
account  of  this  misfortune,  for  they  all  saw  that  John  could 
not  do  as  much  work  with  nine  fingers  as  with  ten,  and,  as  his 
former  wages  were  barely  adequate  to  his  support,  they  appre- 
hended that  he  would  not  be  able  to  get  his  living,  and  would 
become  chargeable  upon  the  poor  rates.  It  so  happened,  how- 
ever, after  John  recovered  his  reason,  that  he  saw  the  danger 
of  his  situation,  and  he  forthwith  put  his  wits  to  work  to  find 
out  some  contrivance  by  which  he  could  make  up  for  the  loss 
of  his  finger.  He  was  not  long  unsuccessful.  He  invented  an 
improvement  upon  the  machine  with  which  he  carried  on  his 
occupation,  by  which  he  could  do  more  work  with  his  nine 
fingers,  than  he  used  to  do  with  his  ten,  besides  paying  the  ex- 
pense of  the  improvement — and  in  this  way  he  was  able  to 
earn  four  shillings  a  day.  He  kept  the  secret,  however,  to  him- 
self, and,  in  a  quiet  and  snug  way,  went  on  laying  up  money, 
instead  of  falling  behindhand. 

In  the  progress  of  time,  the  improvement  in  his  circumstan- 
ces became  very  visible,  and  it  excited  the  astonishment  of  all 
his  neighbours  to  see  him  so  thriving,  and  they  put  their  heads 
together  to  see  if  they  could  find  out  the  cause  of  John's  pros- 
perity. At  length,  one  Crapeau,  a  Frenchman,  who  was  more 
wise  than  the  rest,  after  puzzling  his  brains  right  hard,  became 
satisfied  that  he  had  discovered  the  secret.  He  insisted  upon  it 
that  John's  unexampled  prosperity  was  owing  to  the  loss  of  his 
finger,  and  believing,  very  correctly,  that,  if  a  man  could  do 
more  work  with  nine  fingers  than  with  ten,  it  would  be  an  im- 
provement upon  the  system  to  have  but  eight  fingers,  he  with- 
out any  more  ado,  deliberately  took  a  hatchet  and  cut  off  two 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  249 

of  his  fingers.  His  friends  pitied  his  delusion,  for  they  felt  quite 
assured  that  he  had  mistaken  the  cause  of  John's  growing  cir- 
cumstances, and  they  very  kindly  marked  him  down  as  a  fresh 
subject  for  the  alms-house.  Strange,  however,  to  tell,  Crapeau, 
after  his  recovery  from  his  wound,  appeared  to  thrive  more 
than  he  had  ever  done  before — and  this  second  example  of  suc- 
cess, after  what  had  been  predicted,  began  to  excite  the  doubts 
of  the  wisest  of  his  neighbours,  who  had  never  before  listened 
to  the  idea  that  John's  success  was  owing  to  the  loss  of  his  fin- 
ger,   but  had  always  insisted  that  it  was  in  spite  of  it. 

Amongst  these  doubters  was  one  named  Jonathan,  who  had 
always  before  been  reputed  to  be  a  remarkably  shrewd,  cute, 
enterprizing,  industrious  youth,  who,  finding  that  his  competi- 
tors, John  and  Crapeau,  could  undersell   him,   and,   not  being 
able  to  divine  any  cause  for  it,  but  their  lack  of  fingers,  he  at 
last  fell  into  the  belief  which  now  became  prevalent,  and  re- 
solved to  curtail  his  physical  powers.     He  did  not,  however, 
act   precipitately.     He  very  wisely  recollected,  that  fingers, 
when  once  cut  off,  can  not  again   be  easily  replaced,  and  he 
concluded,  that,  if  there  was  any  mode  by  which  he  could  di- 
minish his  power  to  w^ork,  (for  that  appeared  to  him  to  be  the 
true  question,)  without  absolute  excision,  it  would  be  the  safest 
mode  of  trying  the  experiment.     He  accordingly  hit  upon  the 
expedient  of  tying  one  of  his  hands  behind  his  back,  and  in 
this  way  he  went  to  work,  amidst  the  shouts  and  acclamations 
of  his  neicrhbours,  who  thoufrht  that  Jonathan  had  outwitted  all 
his  competitors,  and  was  now  upon  the  high  road  to  opulence. 
Sure  enough.     By  working  earlier    in  the  morning,    and  la- 
ter in  the  evening,  with  the  aid  of  labour-saving  machinery, 
young   Jonathan  was    seen   to    grow  rich — for,   although  he 
could  not  do   as  much  work  as  John  or  Crapeau,   yet,  with 
his  one  hand  he  had  acquired  such  wonderful  dexterity,  that 
he  could  turn  out  more  work  in  a  day  than  he  used  to  do  with 
two.     With  open  mouths,  his  friends  and  acquaintances  would 
gape  and  stare  w^hen  they  saw  Jonathan  wear  a   broadcloth 
long  coat  on  Sunday,   instead  of  a  coarse  roundabout  jacket, 
and  not  a  soul  of  them  any  longer  entertained  the  least  doubt 
but  that  his  great  success  was  owing  to  the  restrictions  he  had 
imposed  upon  his  industry.     All,  therefore,  followed  his  exam- 
ple, which  spread  like  wildfire  through  the  country,  and  the  re- 
strictivs  system,  which  Jonathan,  (by  way  of  securing  for  it 
greater  favour  with  the  people  than   it   could  enjoy  if  it  was 
known  to  be  nothing  but  an   improvement  upon  John's  loss  of 
a  finger,)  called  the  "  American  System,"   became,  in  the  opi- 
nion of  many,  the  settled  policy  of  the  country. 

Happily,  however,  such  palpable  nonsense  as  growing  rich 
by  cutting  off  and  tying  one's  limbs,  was  too  gross  to  be  endur- 
ed by  the  reflecting  few,  and  the  result  was,  that,  after  a  few 


250  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

years'  trial,  Jonathan  began  to  find  out,  by  listening  to  some  of 
his  friends,  whom  he  at  one  time  thought  were  his  enemies, 
that  he  had  mistaken  the  true  cause  of  John  and  Crapeau's 
prosperity,  and  that,  so  far  from  their  being  benefited  by  the 
loss  of  their  fingers,  they  would  have  been  twice  as  well  off, 
had  they  not  been  deprived  of  those  great  auxiliaries  to  labour. 
He  accordingly  resolved  to  untie  his  hand ;  but,  as  he  was 
partly  ashamed  to  do  it  all  at  once,  for  fear  of  being  laughed 
at,  and  partly  afraid  that  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  after  so 
long  a  stagnation,  would  be  injuriously  rapid,  he  went  to  work 
by  degrees.  Last  spring  he  untied  three  or  four  knots ;  this 
winter  we  expect  he  will  untie  a  couple  more,  and,  in  two 
years'  time,  he  will,  we  trust,  have  restored  his  hand  to  a  state 
of  perfect  liberty,  when  he  may  laugh  in  his  sleeve  to  think 
how  much  better  off  he  is  than  John  and  the  Frenchman,  who 
can  never  recover  their  lost  fingers. 


ESSAY     No.   L  XX  IX. 

JANUARY    19,    1831. 

Proposed  duty  on  Screws.     Effect  of,  examined. 

WE  had  really  hoped,  that,  at  the  present  eventful  moment, 
when  the  American  System  is  shaking  the  Union  to  its  cen- 
tre, a  decent  respect  for  the  public  tranquiUity  would  have  in- 
duced those  who  are  pocketing  large  sum.s  of  the  people's  mo- 
ney, without  an  equivalent,  to  remain  satisfied  with  their  pre- 
sent monopolies,  and  to  show  a  willingness,  if  not  to  retrace 
their  steps,  at  least  to  halt,  and  not  to  press  their  system  fur- 
ther, at  the  hazard  of  losing  all  they  have.  In  this  we  have 
been  disappointed.  On  the  23d  ultimo,  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  Mr.  Marks  presented  "  the  petition  of  a  Com- 
pany in  Philipsburg,  Pennsylvania,  for  the  manufacture  of  Iron 
Screws,  praying  that  the  duty  on  those  articles,  when  import- 
ed, may  be  changed  from  an  ad  valorem  to  a  specific  duty," — 
which  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Manufactures. 

This  article  of  screws,  we  believe,  is  manufactured  by  only 
one  or  two  establishments  in  the  United  States.  They  were 
taken  under  the  protection  of  the  American  System  in  the  year 
1824,  and  favoured  with  a  duty  of  30  per  centum,  which,  added 
to  the  expense  of  importation,  amounting  probably  to  20  per 
centum  more,  gave  a  clear  advantage  to  the  American  manu- 
facturer, of  50  per  centum  over  his  foreign  competitor.  This, 
however,  did  not  satisfy  his  calculation,  or  compensate  for  his 
want  of  skill  and  dexterity — and,  in  the  year  1828.  when  the 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  251 

majority  of  Congress  gave  a  broad  invitation  to  all  who  wanted 
new  monopolies,  or  old  ones  enlarged,  he  modestly  asked  to  be 
indulged  with  a  trifling  increase  of  10  per  cent.  Coming  from 
Pennsylvania,  "  the  key-stone  of  the  federal  arch,"  so  civil  a 
request  could  not  be  refused,  and,  emboldened  by  this  success, 
we  now  see  the  same  concern  coming  forward  and  soliciting 
another  increase,  from  40  per  centum,  to — what  1 — not  to  50 
per  centum,  but  to  a  specific  duty — in  other  words,  to  such  a 
duty  as  will  rise,  in  its  ad  valorem  ratio,  as  the  price  of  foreign 
screws  declines,  and,  in  that  manner,  ultimately  exclude  them 
from  the  market,  without  letting  the  public  see  the  cause.  In 
this  manner  have  the  coarse  cottons  been  shut  out.  Had  the 
specific  duty  of  6^  cents  per  square  yard,  which  at  the  time  it 
was  fixed,  in  1816,  was  about  25  per  centum  ad  valorem,  re- 
mained without  any  increase,  it  would  have  answered  the  pur- 
pose of  excluding,  without  the  aid  of  the  higher  duty,  the  coarser 
fabrics :  for,  as  these  annually  fell  in  price,  the  ratio  of  the  duty 
became  increased  from  that  very  cause,  and,  what  was  but  25 
per  centum  when  the  foreign  cost  was  25  cents  per  yard,  would 
have  become  125  when  the  foreign  cost  declined  to  five  cents. 
We  think  that  the  nation  has  seen  enough  of  specific  duties  to 
be  convinced  that  they  are  the  most  unjust  and  unequal  of  all, 
and  that  they  furnish  a  cloak  for  impositions  and  frauds  upon 
the  public,  which  cannot  be  practised  under  a  bona  fide  system 
of  ad  valoj'em  duties.  Such  are  the  duties  now  existing  upon 
cotton  goods  which  cost  35  cents  per  square  yard,  or  less,  and 
upon  all  coarse  woollen  cloths,  flannels,  and  baizes.  On  the 
face  of  the  law  they  are  called  ad  valorem  duties,  but  they  are, 
in  reality,  specific  duties,  and  we  think  ought  to  be  returned  un- 
der that  head  in  the  annual  Commercial  Statements,  made  by 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  Congress. 

What  this  screw  concern  w^ant  Congress  to  do,  is,  probably, 
to  enact  a  clause  in  the  following  form  :  "  And  be  it  enacted, 
&c..  That  henceforth  the  duty  upon  iron  screws,  called  wood 
screws,  shall  be  40  per  centum  ad  valorem — provided,  that  all 
screws,  costing  less  than  the  highest  price  at  which  the  largest 
and  best  finished  are  sold,  and  such  as  cannot  be  made  in  this 
country,  shall  be  deemed  to  have  cost  said  highest  price,  (al- 
though they  may  not  have  cost  a  fourth  of  the  money,)  and 
shall  be  charged  with  duty  accordingly."  We  trust,  however, 
that  Congress,  if  it  desires  to  favour  the  manufacturers  of  screws, 
will  do  it  in  a  way  compatible  with  the  peace  and  interests  of 
the  country;  that  is,  by  taking  ofl'the  duty  on  iron,  for  herein 
consists  the  principal  "difficulty  which  Messrs.  Phillips,  &  Co. 
have  to  encounter,  although  they  do  not  say  so  in  the  frank 
manner  that  the  Philadelphia  blacksmiths,  last  winter,  stated 
their  grievances. 


252  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 


ESSAY    No.    LXXX. 

FEBRUARY   9,    1831. 

Reports  of  the  Majority  and  Minority  of  the  Committee  on  Ma- 
mifactures.     Doctrines  of,  examined. 

IN  our  last  paper  we  published  the  report  of  the  Committee 
on  Manufactures,  presented  by  Mr.  Mallary,  on  the  13th  of  Ja- 
nuary. The  principles  of  political  economy  are  so  well  under- 
stood by  nine-tenths  of  those  who  read  this  paper,  that  the  fal- 
lacies and  heretical  doctrines  with  which  it  abounds  will  be  de- 
tected by  them,  without  any  specific  pointing  out.  To  enter  into 
a  detailed  criticism,  embracing  all  its  errors,  would  require  more 
space  than  we  can  devote  to  it,  and  would,  in  fact,  be  a  mere 
repetition  of  arguments  which  have  been  over  and  over  again 
advanced.  To  any  one  who  has  a  mind  capable  of  compre- 
hending scientific  truths,  it  will  be  manifest,  that  a  single  para- 
graph may  contain  as  much  fallacy  as  it  would  require  pages 
to  refute.  It  will  also  be  manifest,  that,  if  it  be  allowed  in  a 
document,  intended  to  prove  the  soundness  of  a  policy,  to  as- 
sume, as  admitted,  the  very  points  in  dispute,  and  upon  the  es- 
tablishment or  rejection  of  which  the  whole  matter  turns,  it 
would  be  necessary,  in  order  to  overthrow  its  positions,  that  a 
course  of  elementary  reasoning  should  be  resorted  to.  For  in- 
stance :  Mr.  Mallary  asserts,  "  Congress  has,  for  years,  and  on 
repeated  occasions,  exercised  its  ivisdom  on  the  tariff."  Now, 
we  wholly  deny  that  any  wisdom  whatever  has  been  displayed 
on  this  subject — but,  on  the  contrary,  the  most  consummate/o//?/. 
But,  to  establish  our  position,  it  would  be  necessary  to  show,  as 
we  have  repeatedly  done  in  this  journal : 

That  the  object  of  all  legislation  should  be  the  greatest  good 
of  the  greatest  number ; 

That  restrictions  upon  industry  create  a  faulty  distribution 
of  capital  and  labour,  by  driving  both  into  channels  different 
from  the  natural  ones  which  they  would  pursue  if  left  in  a  state 
of  freedom  ; 

That  this  faulty  distribution  of  capital  and  labour,  of  necessi- 
ty diminishes  the  total  joint  product  of  the  capital  and  labour 
of  the  country ; 

That  no  diminution  of  the  products  of  capital  and  labour  can 
take  place  without  diminishing  the  prosperity  and  comforts  of 
the  community ; 

That  not  only  is  there  a  diminution  of  the  aggregate  mass  of 
products,  but  there  is,  besides,  an  unequal  distribution  of  what 
remains,  inasmuch  as  some  people  get  more  than  their  fair  pro- 
portion of  it,  whilst  others  get  less  ; 

That  high  duties  are  taxes  upon  consumers,  and  taxes  which 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  253 

ought  never  to  be  imposed,  but  for  the  necessary  exigences  of 
government; 

That  high  duties  upon  imported  goods  operate  as  obstruc- 
tions to  the  exportation  of  domestic  products,  and  weigh  most 
heavily  upon  the  producers  of  those  commodities,  which  would 
be  exported  more  abundantly  if  foreign  goods  were  not  ex- 
cluded ; 

That  all  protective  duties  arc  prohibitory  duties  to  a  greater 
or  less  extent — for,  if  some  foreign  goods  were  not  excluded  by 
them,  there  would  not  be  a  demand  for  the  home  product  to 
the  same  extent : 

That  the  Restrictive  System  of  the  United  States  is  founded 
upon  the  most  iniquitous  and  unjust  principles,  because  it  falls 
most  heavily  upon  the  poor  and  labouring  classes,  and  taxes  peo- 
ple high  in  proportion  to  their  inability  to  bear  the  burden. 

Fifty  other  propositions,  of  equal  weight,  could  be  brought 
forward — but,  as  they  would  not  appear  self-evident  to  those 
who  had  convinced  themselves  that  cutting  off  a  man's  fingers, 
or  tying  his  hands  behind  his  back,  would  increase  his  power 
to  work,  it  would  be  necessary  to  enter  into  an  argument  to 
prove  each  separate  one,  which  could  not  be  done  in  a  single 
essay.  Many  philosophical  truths  require  a  volume  of  explana- 
tion, and  any  one  may  see  how  difficult  it  would  be,  for  ex- 
ample, for  an  astronomer  to  prove,  to  the  satisfaction  of  an  In- 
dian, that  the  sun  does  not  move.  If  Dr.  Herschell  should  say 
to  an  untutored  savage,  that  that  body  stands  still,  and  that  the 
earth  moves,  the  latter  would  most  certainly  deny  it,  and  would 
support  his  denial,  most  probably,  by  the  well-known  argu- 
ment of  the  American  System  philosophers — "  Seeing  is  be- 
lieving; one  fact  is  worth  a  thousand  theories.^' 

Mr.  Mallary  is  evidently  alarmed  for  the  fate  of  his  favourite 
system,  and  with  good  reason  too.  Such  a  compound  of  fol- 
ly, selfishness,  and  injustice,  cannot  stand  before  the  weapons 
of  truth,  which  are  now  assailing  it  from  all  quarters  of  the 
country.  Our  particular  position,  perhaps,  gives  us  as  good  an 
opportunity  of  judging  upon  this  matter,  as  is  enjoyed  by  any 
other  individual,  and  we  unhesitatingly  say,  that  the  indications 
of  a  giving  way  of  the  restrictive  policy,  are  abundant.  Hov^ 
far  Mr.  Mallary  has  helped  his  cause  by  availing  himself  of  his 
official  station  to  connect  with  personal  politics  a  measure 
which  should  be  decided  wholly  without  reference  to  men,  re- 
mains to  be  seen.  We  think  w^e  express  the  opinions  of  many 
of  the  tariff  party,  when  we  say,  that  this  has  been  a  bad 
move,  for  them,  on  the  political  chess-board,  for  it  has  given 
an  opportunity  to  the  friends  of  the  administration  to  draw  a 
line  between  the  advocates  of  prohibition,  and  the  advocates  of 
a  moderate  tariff,  which  cannot  fail  to  pave  the  way  for  more 
enlightened  views. 
Y 


254  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

To-day  we  publish  the  report  of  the  Minority  of  the  Com- 
mittee, presented  by  Mr.  Monell.  AUhough  it  contains  unsound 
doctrines  enough,  yet  there  are  some  principles  advocated  in 
it,  which,  if  carried  out,  would  accomplish  all  that  the  friends 
of  Free  Trade  could  desire.  Amongst  these,  are,  the  position 
laid  down,  that  it  is  wrong  to  protect  a  combination  of  inter- 
ests, each  of  which,  taken  separately,  it  would  be  injurious  to 
protect — that,  to  lay  duties  for  the  sole  purpose  of  protecting 
domestic  industry,  would  be  an  anomaly  in  government — that 
it  is  impolitic  to  extend  protection  to  any  article,  unless  there 
be  a  reasonable  probability,  that,  by  temporary  aid,  it  could  sus- 
tain itself  against  foreign  competition — and,  that  the  duty  on 
coarse  cottons  ought  to  be  reduced,  and  upon  the  ground  as- 
sumed by  the  tariff  party,  viz.,  that  we  can  undersell  the  Bri- 
tish in  foreign  markets,  and  of  course  in  our  own  markets.  It 
is  very  natural  for  those  who  are  in  a  minority  to  consider  that 
v/hich  is  not  against  them,  as  for  them.  In  this  light  do  we 
regard  the  report  of  Mr.  Monell.  If  it  does  not  contain  such 
orthodoxy  as  is  required  to  entitle  it  to  the  rank  of  a  sound 
production  in  political  economy,  it  is  not  half  as  far  from  the 
standard  as  Mr.  Mallary's  paper — and,  in  these  dark  times, 
there  is  a  satisfaction  in  beholding,  if  it  be  but  a  single  ray  of 
light,  shooting  forth  from  the  dark  expanse.  The  two  reports, 
as  they  now  stand,  seem  to  cut  the  American  System  into  two, 
one  part  to  be  called  Mr.  Clay's  System,  and  the  other  Gene- 
ral Jackson's  System.  The  former  advocates,  prohibition  and 
restriction,  as  the  permanent  and  settled  policy  of  the  country : 
the  latter  advocates  moderate  duties  and  temporary  protection. 
The  public  is  to  take  its  choice  of  the  two  halves  of  the  Sys- 
tem, and  we  can  hardly  doubt  that  a  large  majority  will  prefer 
the  moderate  side.  What  is  principally  wanted,  is,  to  strip  the 
American  System  of  the  sanctity  with  which  it  has  been  in- 
vested by  false  and  silly  notions  of  patriotism.  This  we  think 
will  be  done  during  the  ensuing  recess  of  Congress,  by  the  par- 
ty press,  and  we  are  very  much  mistaken,  if,  in  one  year  from 
this  time,  Diana  of  the  Ephesians,  once  thought  so  great,  will 
not  be  held  in  low  estimation  by  thousands  of  her  former  wor- 
shippers. 


ESSAY    No.    LXXXI. 

FEBRUARY    16,    1831. 

The  West  India  trade.     Effects  of  interfering  with  it  by  com^ 
mercial  legislation  pointed  out, 

A  RESPECTABLE  correspondent  in  Virginia   addressed 
us,  some  time  ago,  the  following  letter,  accompanied  by  an  ar- 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  255 

tide  on  the  West  India  trade,  which  we  published  in  our  last 
paper : 

Gloucester  County,  November  7,  1830. 

"  Sir :  Never  having  seen  the  subject  of  the  West  India  trade 
treated  exactly  as  I  could  have  desired,  I  take  the  liberty  of 
giving  you  my  views  upon  it,  over  the  signature  of  "  A  Far- 
mer," to  publish,  if  found  to  be  correct.  This  is  the  first  of  my 
composition  for  the  public  eye,  and  therefore  shall  not  feel  mor- 
tified if  it  is  deemed  unworthy  a  place  in  your  paper ;  though, 
in  the  latter  event,  should  be  pleased  to  have  my  notions  set 
right,  by  an  expression  of  your  opinion  on  the  subject,  in  the 
Banner,  or  in  a  private  communication  to  me.     Yours,  &c." 

As  our  correspondent  has  asked  our  opinion  on  this  subject, 
we  will  cheerfully  give  it. 

The  positions  w  ith  which  the  Farmer  sets  out — viz.,  that  the 
income  of  a  nation  is  limited,  and  that  its  imports  cannot  ex- 
ceed its  exports — are  undoubtedly  correct.  Hence  it  follows, 
that,  if  the  price  of  an  article,  imported  into  any  country,  be 
raised,  by  the  imposition  of  duties,  or  by  increased  expenses, 
such  as  are  incident  to  an  indirect  voyage,  the  quantity  which 
that  nation  can  afford  to  consume,  must  of  necessity  be  dimi- 
nished, in  the  same  manner  precisely  as  a  labouring  man  must 
diminish  his  consumption  of  food  and  clothing  when  their  pri- 
ces are  increased.  No  nation  or  individual  can  purchase  as 
many  articles  at  high  prices  as  at  low  prices,  and,  to  suppose 
that  they  can,  betrays  a  want  of  analytical  examination  of  the 
subject.  To  explain  our  opinions  on  this  matter,  we  will  take 
a  specific  case.  Say,  for  instance,  our  trade  with  the  island 
of  Jamaica,  under  a  direct  and  under  an  indirect  trade,  and, 
what  will  be  true  in  reference  to  that,  will  be  true  in  reference 
to  the  other  islands. 

Between  Jamaica  and  the  United  States,  we  will  suppose 
there  is  a  direct  trade.  A  barrel  of  flour  here  costs  six  dollars, 
and  the  freight  and  charges  upon  it,  and  ordinary  mercantile 
profit,  require  that  it  should  be  sold,  at  Jamaica,  so  as  to  nett, 
there,  eight  dollars.  A  cargo  of  1000  barrels  is  shipped  and 
sold  in  Jamaica,  for  8000  dollars,  which  sum  is  invested  in  1000 
barrels  of  sugar. 

This  direct  trade  is  then  prohibited,  and  the  accustomed  ex- 
change of  flour  for  sugar  can  only  take  place  at  a  neutral  is- 
land. To  that  island  the  American  merchant  ships  his  flour, 
and  to  that  island  the  Jamaica  planter  ships  his  sugar.  The 
price  of  both  articles  will  therefore  be  regulated  by  the  free 
competition  of  the  neutral  n'larkct,  and  thus  it  will  appear  that 
neither  party  is  obliged  to  sell  to  the  other  for  any  less  price 
than  he  can  obtain  from  others.  But  at  this  market  the  Ja- 
maica planter  purchases  American  flour,  and  the  price  he  pays 
for  it,  by  the  time  he  receives  it  in  Jamaica,  is  just  as  much 


256  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

more  than  he  would  have  to  pay  under  a  direct  trade,  as  the 
increased  expenses,  whatever  they  may  be,  of  the  double  voy- 
age. Supposing  these  to  be  one  dollar  per  barrel  more,  his 
supply  will  cost  him  nine  dollars  per  barrel,  and,  as  he  cannot 
afford  to  buy  as  many  barrels  as  when  the  price  was  but  eight 
dollars,  he  must  diminish  the  quantity  proportionably,  and  be 
content  with  900  barrels,  because  that  quantity  will  absorb,  at 
the  new  price,  his  whole  fund  of  8000  dollars.  The  loss  to  the 
American  farmer,  from  this  process,  will  be  the  loss  of  the  sale 
of  100  barrels  of  flour  out  of  every  thousand  which  he  used  to 
sell  to  Jamaica,  but  no  more,  and  the  influence  which  this  loss 
can  have  upon  the  price,  in  the  home  market,  of  flour,  will  only 
be  in  the  proportion  that  the  diminished  sales  to  Jamaica  would 
bear  to  the  total  demand  for  flour — and  even  that  would  be  of 
momentary  duration,  inasmuch  as  the  new  production  of  flour 
would  soon  be  made  to  conform  to  the  new  demand,  and  restore 
the  old  price.  It  is  an  error  to  suppose  that  any  increased  de- 
mand for  flour  in  the  United  States  would  permanently  raise  its 
price.  If  five  dollars  per  barrel  aflTord  a  return  for  the  capital 
and  labour,  and  the  use  of  the  land  employed  in  the  production 
of  wheat,  equal  to  the  average  returns  derived  from  other  pur- 
suits, as  we  presume  it  does,  or  it  would  not  be  raised  so  abun- 
dantly, any  rise  above  five  dollars  would  draw  more  capital, 
land,  and  labour,  to  that  branch  of  agriculture,  until  the  new 
quantity  should  equal  the  new  demand — and  then  the  price 
would  be  restored  to  the  old  rates.  The  same  is  true  of  a  di- 
minished demand  for  flour,  which  could  only  have  a  temporary 
effect ;  for,  as  capital,  land,  and  labour,  would  find  more  profi- 
table employment  in  other  pursuits,  they  would  be  turned  from 
the  cultivation  of  wheat,  until  the  price  should  again  be  raised 
to  the  remunerating  point. 

The  same  effect  precisely  would  take  place  with  the  sugar. 
The  Jamaica  planter  would  sell  less  sugar,  by  100  barrels  out 
of  every  1000,  than  he  used  to  sell,  but  the  price  of  sugar  in 
Jamaica  would  only  decline  in  the  proportion  that  the  dimi- 
nished demand  of  the  United  States  would  bear  to  the  total  de- 
mand, upon  the  Jamaica  market,  for  sugar.  This  decline,  too, 
would  be  but  temporary,  as  in  the  other  case,  for  the  produc- 
tion of  sugar  would  be  diminished  until  the  price  should  rise  to 
the  remunerating  point. 

If  we  are  correct  in  these  positions,  the  following  facts  will 
be  evident : 

First.  That  the  interruption  of  this  direct  trade  is  beneficial 
to  neither  party ;  and. 

Secondly.  That  each  party  loses  the  sale  of  a  portion  of  its 
agricultural  products,  for  which  a  market  did  before  exist. 

As  to  the  question  of  tonnage,  that  being  a  mixed  question, 
is  not  so  susceptible  of  definite  illustration  s.s   the  other.     To 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  257 

convey  900  barrels  of  flour  from  the  United  States  to  St.  Tho- 
mas's, would  clearly  not  require  as  much  tonnage  as  to  convey 
1000  barrels  to  Jamaica ;  nor  would  the  transportation  of  900 
barrels  of  sugar  from  Jamaica  to  St.  Thomas's  require  as  much 
tonnage  as  to  transport  1000  barrels  to  the  United  States.  But 
whether  the  total  quantity  of  American  and  British  tonnage, 
together,  employed  in  the  indirect  trade,  be  not  greater  than  in 
the  direct  trade,  we  are  not  prepared  to  assert.  We  presume 
it  is — but  the  merits  of  the  question  would  not  thereby  be  af- 
fected. There  is  no  more  reason  why  prices  should  be  artifi- 
cially raised,  to  please  the  ship-owners  of  either  country,  than 
there  is  to  please  the  manufacturers. 

Now,  in  order  to  solve  the  problem  w^hich  the  Virginia  Far- 
mer has  proposed,  it  is  only  necessary  to  reverse  our  reasoning, 
and  it  would  then  appear,  that  the  effect  of  a  restoration  of  a 
direct  trade  with  the  British  West  Indies  must  be  to  increase 
the  mutual  exchange  of  products  to  an  extent  at  least  equal  to 
the  whole  additional  expenses  of  the  circuitous  route,  which 
will  now  be  saved  to  the  two  countries.  This  we  say  in  refer- 
ence to  those  commodities  in  which  the  trade  was  not  entirely 
broken  up.  But,  as  regards  the  articles  of  live  stock  and  lum- 
ber, which  could  not  bear  the  expense  of  a  double  shipment, 
the  benefits  of  the  restoration  will  be  more  perceptible,  although 
even  in  them  they  will  not  appear  in  the  form  of  permanently 
increased  prices,  but  of  a  permanently  increased  demand. 

In  the  above  calculations  we  have  not  emploj^ed  the  accura- 
cy which  nice  proportions  call  for.  We  have,  for  instance,  spo- 
ken of  900  barrels,  where  precision  required  only  889.  But 
this  was  done  for  the  convenience  of  the  reader.  In  the  same 
manner  we  have  spoken  of  100  barrels,  where  111  was  the 
proper  number. 


ESSAY    No.    LXXXII. 


FEBRUARY   23,    1831. 

Examination  of  the  doctrine,  that  the  American  Protective  Sys- 
tem has  reduced  the  prices  of  foreign  goods  in  foreign  coun- 
tries. 

OF  all  the  assumed  propositions  of  the  tariff  party,  there  is 
none  which  has  more  plausibility  than  this,  viz.,  "  that,  even 
admitting  that  the  American  tariff  has  not  reduced  the  prices 
of  the  protected  articles  as  low  as  they  can  be  purchased  in 
foreign  countries,  yet,  that  it  undoubtedly  has  had  the  effect  of 
Y* 


258  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

reducing  the  prices  of  foreign  goods  in  foreign  countries." 
There  are  probably  some  of  our  friends  who  have  been  puz- 
zled to  answer  this  postulate,  but  we  think  we  can  furnish  them 
with  the  means  of  meeting  it  hereafter. 

The  proposition,  stripped  of  its  generality,  is  simply  this: 
that,  owing  to  the  existence  of  our  protecting  duty  on  sugar, 
for  example,  of  three  cents  per  pound,  the  price  of  sugar  in  the 
West  Indies  is  permanently  lower  than  it  would  have  been  had 
this  duty  not  existed.  Now,  we  deny  this  proposition,  and  call 
for  the  arguments  by  which  it  is  sustained.  If  there  be  a  single 
one,  it  must  be  the  following,  viz.,  that,  as  we  have  withdrawn 
or  withheld  our  custom  from  the  foreign  sugar-growingcountries 
of  the  world,  to  the  extent  of  80,000  hogsheads  per  annum, 
this  diminished  demand  must  have  occasioned  a  reduction  in 
the  expenses  of  cultivation ;  for  it  is  only  by  such  a  reduction 
that  the  price  of  sugar  could  be  permanently  reduced.  A  sud- 
den cessation  of  a  great  demand  for  a  commodity,  upon  any 
given  supply,  would  no  doubt  have  the  effect  of  diminishing 
temporarily' ihe  price,  but,  as  the  future  supply  would  soon  be 
adjusted  to  the  future  demand,  no  permanent  fall  could  be  oc- 
casioned. In  this  particular  article,  however,  there  is  not  the 
slightest  reason  for  believing  that  the  least  temporary  fall  was 
ever  for  a  single  moment  occasioned,  in  the  foreign  price  of 
sugar,  by  our  increase  of  the  duty  from  two  cents  to  three  cents 
per  pound,  and  for  the  simple  reason,  that,  since  the  duty  was 
raised,  there  has  been  no  sensible  diminution  of  the  imports  for 
consumption.  Our  increased  demand,  arising  from  our  in- 
crease of  population,  has  been  quite  equal  to  the  domestic  pro- 
duction. Now,  the  only  question  to  be  determined,  is,  what 
permanent  effect  a  diminution  of  demand  has  upon  the  price  of 
a  commodity — can  it  have  the  effect  of  lowering  it?  Is  it  not 
a  universal  truth,  known  to  every  body,  that  the  more  there 
is  called  for  of  a  particular  article,  the  cheaper  it  can  be  fur- 
nished ?  Will  not  every  manufacturer  agree  to  supply  a  cus- 
tomer at  a  lower  price,  when  he  takes  a  large  quantity,  than 
when  he  requires  only  a  small  one  ?  How  then  can  withdraw- 
ing or  withholding  a  demand  have  the  same  effect  as  the  de- 
mand itself?  It  cannot  possibly  have  it,  and  it  is  therefore  clear, 
that,  so  far  from  our  duty  on  sugar  having  the  effect  of  reducing 
the  price  of  that  article  in  the  general  market  of  the  world,  it 
has  the  contrary  effect :  it  prevents  sugar  from  being  as  cheap 
as  it  otherwise  would  be,  although  we  admit  that  an  additional 
demand  for  80,000  hhds.,  on  the  general  stock  of  the  world, 
would  have  but  an  imperceptible  operation. 

But  let  us  take  another  article  for  the  illustration  of  this  prin- 
ciple. The  proposition  we  are  combating,  says,  that,  owing 
to  our  duty  of  $37  per  ton  on  foreign  iron,  iron  in  foreign  coun- 
tries has  been  made  permanently  cheaper.     Our  domestic  pro- 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  259 

duction  of  iron  is  estimated  at  about  30,000  tons  per  annum. 
Tiie  quantity  we  import  is  about  the  same,  so  that  one-half  of 
our  demand  is  supphed  by  foreign  countries.  Now,  the  only 
temporary  influence  which  the  withholding  of  our  demand  upon 
all  the  iron-producing  countries  of  Europe,  for  30,000  tons, 
could  have,  would  be  in  the  proportion  that  six  millions  of  con- 
sumers of  iron  bear  to  the  whole  iron-consuming  population  of 
the  world,  that  uses  the  iron  and  hardware  of  Europe,  which 
would  be  an  imperceptible  one,  as  will  appear  to  any  one  w  ho 
reflects,  that,  of  the  vast  body  of  people  who  inhabit  this  globe, 
every  individual,  almost,  uses  European  iron,  in  some  shape  or 
other,  as  an  implement  or  a  weapon.  And,  as  to  any  perma- 
nent efl^ect,  upon  what  principle  can  it  be  contended,  because 
the  Americans  choose  to  make  at  home,  at  an  expense  of  $80, 
an  article  that  can  be  purchased  abroad  for  $30,  vhich  is  the 
fact  in  reference  to  a  ton  of  iron,  that  the  foreign  iron  manufac- 
turer can  aflbrd  to  sell  it  cheaper  than  if  he  had  a  greater  de- 
mand ? 

Again. — It  is  asserted,  in  substance,  that,  owing  to  our  duty 
of  Sf  cents  per  square  yard  upon  cotton  goods,  the  price  of  cot- 
ton goods  in  foreign  countries  is  permanently  cheaper.  And 
here  again  we  will  ask,  why  should  such  an  effect  be  produced? 
Every  body  knows  that  the  price  of  this  article  has  been  redu- 
ced partly  by  the  fall  in  price  of  the  raw  material,  (a  fall  occa- 
sioned by  the  very  principle  w'e  are  contending  for,  an  increas- 
ed demand,)  but  chiefly  from  the  improvements  in  labour-sa- 
ving machinery,  which  have  taken  place  since  1815,  and  which 
a  close  competition  has  had  much  agency  in  producing.  We 
say  cfose  competition,  because  that  is  the  only  sort  of  competi- 
tion that  can  be  efficient.  When  thousands  of  people  are  en- 
gaged in  a  particular  branch  of  industry,  pretty  nearly  on  a  par 
as  to  ability,  then  competition  sets  their  wits,  ingenuity,  and 
energy,  to  work,  and  in  that  way  they  discover  expeditious  and 
economical  processes,  which  would  never  otherwise  have  been 
found  out.  It  is  like  the  competition  between  two  horses,  pret- 
ty nearly  matched,  in  a  race.  Each  one  is  made  to  exert  his 
utmost  speed,  because  the  other  is  made  to  do  so  too.  But,  to 
pretend  that  any  real  competition  exists  with  those  who  require 
duties  of  50  or  100  per  centum  to  enable  them  to  be  upon  an 
equality  with  others,  is  just  as  absurd  as  to  suppose  that  a  fleet 
horse  would  be  pushed  in  a  race  with  another  that  could  not 
run  half  as  fast.  We  are  not  able  to  perceive  how  the  compe- 
tition of  the  American  manufacturers  ever  can,  whilst  they  need 
high  duties  to  sustain  them,  have  any  influence  whatever  upon 
the  price  of  similar  commodities  abroad.  They  may  indeed 
have  an  influence  in  preventing  the  prices  from  falling  as  low 
as  they  otherwise  would  fall,  and  we  have  no  doubt  that  they 
produce  this  efl'ect ;  for,  by  diminishing  the  demand  for  cotton 


260  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

goods  in  Europe,  they  prevent  the  competition  from  being  as 
strong  as  it  otherwise  would  be. 

If  this  reasoning  be  sound,  as  we  think  it  is,  it  will  apply  to 
all  the  protected  articles,  and  we  have  long  been  of  opinion, 
that,  so  far  from  our  protective  policy  having  reduced  the  prices 
of  manufactured  goods  abroad,  it  has  prevented  them  from 
falling  as  low  as  tliey  otherwise  would  have  done.  But,  even 
admitting  that  the  proposition  we  have  taken  as  the  text  of  this 
article  were  true,  what  argument  would  it  aftbrd  in  favour  of 
our  adherence  to  the  restrictive  system  ?  If  we  have  occasion- 
ed a  fall  of  prices  abroad,  in  the  name  of  common  sense  let  us 
have  the  benefit  of  it.  Do  not  let  us,  like  a  parcel  of  num- 
sculls  stand  by,  and  see  other  people  enjoy  all  the  advantages 
which  we  have  purchased  at  so  great  a  sacrifice  as  that  of 
throwing  twenty  thousand  females  in  our  large  cities  out  of 
employ,  five  times  as  many  men,  driving  our  sailors  to  foreign 
service,  and  our  merchants  out  of  their  accustomed  trade, 
heaping  insupportable  burthens  upon  the  planting  States,  and 
finally  placing  in  jeopardy  the  existence  of  the  Union.  Let 
us,  like  sensible  people,  share  with  others  the  blessings  which 
we  have  been  instrumental  in  gratuitously  conferring  upon 
them. 


ESSAY   No.   LXXXIII. 

FEBRUARY    23,    1831. 

Speculations  as  to  the  effects  ivhich  would  result  from  the  adop- 
tion of  the  principles  of  Free  Trade  in  the  United  States.  Su- 
perior economy  of  direct  taxation  over  indirect. 

AFTER  the  payment  of  the  public  debt,  what  a  glorious  spec- 
tacle might  not  the  United  States  present  to  the  world,  if  their 
statesmen  had  the  light  of  political  science  to  guide  them,  and 
if  the  people  could  only  be  made  to  understand  their  own  true 
interests.  They  would,  in  such  case,  lay  the  foundation  for  a 
policy  having  for  its  object  the  greatest  good  of  the  greatest 
number,  by  preparing  the  way  for  a  gradual  adoption  of  the 
principles  of  free  trade  in  their  most  unlimited  extent.  What 
would  be  the  cflTects  of  that  policy,  we  shall  undertake  briefly 
to  describe ;  not  that  we  think  it  at  all  likely  that  there  will 
be  wisdom  and  virtue  enough  in  our  day  for  the  consummation 
of  so  glorious  a  result,  but  that  our  readers  may  see  the  con- 
trast which  exists  between  the  system  now  mis-called  American, 
and  that  which,  in  our  estimation,  would  alone  deserve  that  dis- 
tinguishint;  name. 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  261 

To  support  such  a  government  as  ours,  upon  the  economical 
scale  appropriate  to  a  republic,  in  which  the  tax-payers  are 
themselves  the  sovereigns,  does  not  call  for  more  than -1^12,000, 
000,  including  the  army,  navy,  civil  list,  expenses  of  foreign  in- 
tercourse, and  all  others  incident  to  the  management  of  our  pub- 
lic concerns.  This  sum,  divided  amongst  the  population,  would 
not  exceed  one  dollar  per  head  upon  an  average,  and,  if  assess- 
ed in  the  ordinary  mode  in  which  state  taxes,  county  rates  and 
levies,  and  taxes  for  the  support  of  cities,  towns,  or  townships, 
are  assessed,  would  probably  range  from  twenty-five  cents  to 
ten  dollars  per  head.  In  other  words,  a  poor  man  would  con- 
tribute twenty-five  cents  per  annum  for  each  member  of  his 
family,  towards  the  support  of  government,  and  a  man  worth 
his  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  would  not  pay  more  than 
ten  dollars.  That  this  government  could  be  maintained  at 
that  trifling  cost,  after  the  pubUc  debt  is  paid  oft',  is  as  de- 
monstrable as  that  two  and  two  are  four,  and,  were  it  not  for 
that  inconsistent  folly  which  is  so  remarkable  in  this  country, 
and  which  leads  people  to  look  upon  a  direct  tax  of  a  dollar, 
for  the  support  of  the  Federal  Government,  as  a  bug-bear, 
whilst  they  pay,  direct  taxes  of  twice  the  amount  for  the  sup- 
port of  State  and  local  authorities,  and  five  times  the  amount 
in  indirect  taxes  for  the  support  of  monopolies,  the  present  sys- 
tem of  raising  the  revenue  could  not  last.  If  any  man  wishes 
to  see  the  difference  it  would  make  to  him,  whether  the  one 
system  or  the  other  were  adopted,  he  can  easily  do  so,  by  ask- 
ing himself  the  following  questions  : 

How  much  more  do  I  now  pay,  for  the  foreign  articles  I  con- 
sume in  my  famil}-,  than  I  should  have  to  pay  if  there  were  no 
duties  upon  them  ? 

How  much  more  do  I  now  pay,  for  the  domestic  articles  I 
consume  in  my  family,  than  I  should  have  to  pay  if  there  were 
no  duties  upon  foreign  goods,  operating  as  a  tax  upon  the  pro- 
ducers of  the  domestic  articles,  and  compelling  them  to  charge 
higher  for  their  goods  than  they  would  have  to  charge  if  there 
were  no  such  duties  ? 

These  are  very  simple  questions,  and  questions  very  easily 
answered,  and  there  is  not  a  man  in  the  land,  however  poor, 
who  could  not,  in  tico  or  three  items  only,  show  that  he  now 
pays  an  indirect  tax  equal  to  the  whole  amount  of  direct  tax 
he  would  have  to  pay,  if  there  were  no  duties.  There  is  many 
a  man  who  now  pays,  in  the  price  of  the  single  article  of  sugar 
alone,  as  much  tax  as  he  would  have  to  pay  for  his  whole  con- 
tribution. As  to  those  persons  who  live  in  comfortable  circum- 
stances, there  is  not  one  who  does  not,  in  the  ordinary  dress  of 
his  family,  pay  more  tax  than  one  dollar  a  head,  and,  as  re- 
gards those  who  can  afllbrd  to  wear  broadcloth,  the  tax  upon 
a  single  suit  is  upwards  of  ten  dollars.     We  do  not  descend 


262  ESSAYS    ON    THE     PRINCIPLES 

to  further  particulars,  because  the  subject  is  so  plain  a  one 
that  any  individual  can  understand  it ;  but  we  state,  as  our  sin- 
cere belief,  that  the  increased  prices  paid  by  the  whole  body  of 
consumers,  occasioned  by  the  imposition  of  duties,  in  articles 
of  food,  drink,  clothing,  furniture,  utensils,  implements,  and  all 
other  articles  consumed,  is  not  short  of  five  dollars  a  head  upon 
the  population,  which  is  equal  to  sixty  milUons  of  dollars  per 
annum.  Now,  if  this  estimate  be  correct,  it  will  follow,  that  a 
saving  to  the  nation  could  be  effected,  of  forty-eight  millions 
of  dollars  per  annum,  if  the  impost  system  were  substituted  by 
a  system  of  direct  taxation. 

But  this  would  not  be  all.  Under  a  system  of  direct  taxa- 
tion, the  burden  would  fall  upon  the  right  shoulders.  The  poor 
'man  would  only  pay  his  fair  share,  whereas,  under  the  system 
now  existing,  he  pays  more  than  his  share,  for  the  tax  is  levied 
in  such  a  way  as  to  throw  the  principle  weight  upon  the  work- 
ing classes.  How  a  nation  of  working  people  can  permit 
!  themselves  to  be  ridden  as  they  are,  by  an  army  of  monopo- 
lists, booted  and  spurred,  is  one  of  the  most  incomprehensible 
things  in  nature,  and  almost  makes  one  doubt  of  their  capaci- 
ty for  self-government.  The  time  once  was,  in  this  country, 
when  the  very  names  of  monopoly  and  taxation  were  odious 
in  the  ears  of  the  people.  Now,  they  hug  the  abetters  of  these 
measures  of  oppression  to  their  bosoms,  as  their  best  friends, 
and  spurn  from  them  those  who  are  labouring  to  free  them  from 
a  bondage  which  is  as  disgraceful  to  their  understandings  as  it 
is  destructive  of  their  interests. 

We  shall,  perhaps,  be  told  by  some  of  tlie  hooted  and  spur- 
red, that,  if  there  were  no  duties,  no  branch  of  industry  could 
flourish.  This  would  be  as  much  as  to  say,  that  no  branch  of 
industry  could  thrive  without  levying  contributions  upon  the 
rest  of  the  community.  Such  language  is  idle,  and  can  easily 
be  refuted.  Would  not  agriculture,  the  natural  business  of  this 
country,  thrive,  if  our  ports  were  made  as  free  as  Gibraltar  or 
Genoa  ?  Could  not  more  grain,  and  flour,  and  beef,  and  pork, 
and  butter,  and  lard,  be  sold,  if  all  the  world  was  allowed  to 
bring  us  their  commodities  free  of  taxation  ?  Why  do  we  con- 
sider it  of  importance,  in  our  negotiations  with  foreign  powers, 
that  we  should  have  our  productions  admitted  by  them  at  low 
duties  1  Is  it  not  because  there  would  be  a  more  extensive  bar- 
ter of  our  commodities  for  theirs  ?  And  would  not,  consequent- 
ly, our  removal  of  duties  produce  the  same  effect,  and  extend 
their  barter  for  our  commodities  ?  Common  sense  will  answer 
yes,  "  But  no,"  saj^s  the  American  System,  "  foreigners  will 
not  buy  our  agricultural  productions."  Very  well — then  we 
cannot  buy  theirs.  Nothing  is  clearer  than  this.  Will  they 
give  them  to  us  for  nothing  1  If  they  will,  so  much  the  better. 
No  people  could  be  losers  if  it  were  to  rain  broadcloths  and 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  263 

hardware.  But  the  truth  of  the  matter  is,  that  foreigners  are 
not  such  fools  as  to  give  us  their  wares  without  full  value  re- 
ceived. They  may  sometimes  make  accidental  losing  voyages, 
but,  to  say  that  any  merchant  or  manufacturer  will  ship  goods 
to  a  certain  loss,  is  to  ascribe,  to  a  very  close,  calculating  class 
of  people,  a  folly,  of  which  they  have  never  yet  been  guilty. 
What  would  be  thought  of  any  one  who  should  insist  upon  it 
that  the  ruinous  shipments  of  cotton  made  from  this  country  to 
England,  in  1826,  were  designed  to  injure  the  British  speculators 
in  cotton?  To  argue  seriously  on  such  a  subject,  is  almost 
impossible.  Commerce  is  an  exchange  of  equivalents,  and  im- 
ports from  abroad  can  never  take  place  into  any  country  w^here 
corresponding  amounts  are  not  exported. 

But,  not  only  would  agriculture  thrive  under  a  trade  perfect- 
ly free;  manufactures  would  themselves  prosper.  All  those 
connected  with  ship  building  would  flourish  beyond  any  former 
example.  But,  independent  of  these,  every  species  of  employ- 
ment, almost,  would  advance.  For  instance,  population  would 
increase,  calling  for  additional  houses ;  carpenters,  bricklayers, 
masons,  painters,  glaziers,  piaisterers,  brickmakers,  lumber- 
cutters,  saw-millers,  boat-men,  raft-men,  lime-burners,  cart- 
men,  cellar-diggers,  and  all  others  connected  in  any  way  with 
building,  would  all  find  an  additional  demand  for  their  labour. 
Houses  cannot  be  imported,  and  must  therefore  all  be  made  in 
the  country.  Indeed,  from  the  very  nature  of  things,  the  great 
mass  of  the  products  of  labour  consumed  in  any  country,  must 
needs  be  produced  in  that  country,  arising  from  the  limits  which 
are  placed  on  foreign  commerce,  by  the  expenses  of  transpor- 
tation, and  by  the  similarity  of  soil  and  climate,  which  occa- 
sions a  similarity  of  productions.  These  circumstances  consti- 
tute a  natural  barrier  to  competition,  or,  as  some  would  say,  a 
natural  protection  against  foreign  competition.  If  a  bushel  of 
wheat  can  be  raised  in  Pennsylvania,  for  a  dollar,  and  a  simi- 
lar bushel  can  be  raised  in  France  for  the  same  price,  there  can 
be  no  commerce  between  those  countries,  as  far  as  that  article 
is  concerned;  nor  can  there  be  any  commerce,  if  the  expenses 
of  transport  are  too  great  to  be  remunerated.  At  Pittsburg 
coal  can  be  purchased  at  four  cents  a  bushel — at  New  York  it 
is  worth  twenty  cents  ;  but,  as  far  as  coal  is  the  only  equivalent 
which  an  inhabitant  of  Pittsburg  has  to  pay  for  New  York 
merchandise,  so  far  is  he  deprived  of  the  power  of  purchasing, 
because  the  New  York  merchant  cannot  find  his  account  in 
taking  coal  in  payment.  From  this  it  will  be  seen,  that,  in 
all  commerce,  two  things  are  requisite  to  carry  it  into  effect : 
■first,  that  there  should  be  goods  to  sell :  and,  secondly,  that  he 
who  wants. to  buy  them  should  have  something  to  give  in  ex- 
change, which  the  seller  is  willing  to  take.  We  dare  say  that 
the  Pittsburgers  have  no  limits  to  the  extent   to  which  they 


264  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

would  bay  New  York  merchandise,  if  the  New  York  merchants 
would  take  coal  in  payment.  But,  as  the  latter  cannot  do  so 
consistently  with  their  interests,  the  former  have  a  naturallimit 
imposed  upon  their  demand. 

The  same  thing  precisely  exists  in  reference  to  the  United 
States  and  Europe.  There  is  a  natural  barrier  imposed  upon  ihe 
commerce  of  the  two  countries,  which  it  is  not  possible  to  re- 
move, although  it  may  be  greatly  diminished  by  economy  in 
navigation.  The  natural  protection  enjoyed  by  a  person  en- 
gaged in  any  domestic  industry,  is  equal,  not  only  to  the  ex- 
penses of  importing  a  similar  product,  but  also  to  the  addition- 
al expense  of  exporting  the  domestic  product  with  which  it  was 
purchased.  That  this  is  the  case,  may  be  evident,  from  this 
consideration:  The  total  mass  of  foreign  goods  consumed  in 
this  country,  if  they  could  be  imported  by  magic,  and  be  paid 
for  by  domestic  goods,  exported  also  by  magic,  would  cost 
precisely  as  much  less  than  they  now  do,  as  the  expenses  of 
freight,  insurance,  commissions,  and  the  other  charges  incident 
to  the  aggregate  mass  of  imports  and  exports.  We  state  this, 
merely  to  show,  that,  without  any  duties,  there  is  a  sufficient 
protection  for  domestic  employments,  and  that,  under  a  trade 
entirely  free,  foreign  competition  could  only  interfere  with  those 
few,  very  few,  branches  of  business,  which  owe  their  establish- 
ment to  the  hot-house  process,  which  ought  never  to  have  been 
forced  upon  the  country,  and  which  it  would  be  advantageous 
for  the  nation  to  get  clear  of  with  all  the  expedition  that  would 
be  consistent  with  a  reasonable  regard  to  the  interests  of  those 
who  are  engaged  in  them. 


ESSAY    No.    LXXXIV. 

FEBRUARY   23,    1831. 


The  Cotton  manufacture.     Tax  imposed  thereby  vpon  consu- 
mers.   Imports  and  exports  of  foreign  cottons  for  five  years. 

THE  tariff  people  say,  that  it  is  not  true  that  the  consumers 
of  cotton  goods  in  the  United  States  pay  an  increased  price  for 
the  domestic  article,  equal  to  the  whole  duty  to  which  a  simi- 
lar foreign  one  is  liable  ;  and,  because  they  can  prove  this,  by 
showing  that  the  lower  qualities  of  domestics  can  be  bought  at 
7  or  8  cents  a  yard,  whilst  the  duty  is  8f  cents,  they  endeavour 
to  make  the  public  believe  that  no  additional  price  whatever  is 
paid  by  the  consumer.  To  do  this,  however,  they  are  obliged 
to  assert  that  cotton  goods  can  be  made  as  cheap  in  this  coun- 
try as  in  Europe — a  position  which  is  wholly  refuted  by  their  ad- 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  265 

kerence  to  the  frohihitory  duty,  which  they  are  not  willing  to 
abandon  in  the  slightest  degree.  Can  any  one  believe  for  a  sin- 
gle moment,  that  such  a  duty  as  the  one  now  existing  would  be 
adhered  to  with  such  pertinacity,  were  it  not  from  a  full  knowledge 
that  its  removal  would  bring  the  foreign  article  into  competi- 
tion with  the  domestic  ?  Undoubtedly  not.  What  the  precise 
amount  of  the  tax,  which  the  present  duty  puts  into  the  poc- 
kets of  the  manufacturers,  is,  nobody  but  themselves  can  tell ; 
but  we  think  we  can  prove,  from  testimony  furnished  by  them- 
selves, that  the  amount  is  a  most  enormous  one,  and  such  as  no 
free  people  on  earth,  but  the  dupes  of  the  American  System 
would  submit  to. 

It  is  insisted  by  some  of  the  manufacturers,  that  the  quantity 
of  cotton  manufactured  in  the  United  States  is  200,000  bales. 
The  writer  who  furnished  the  article  in  the  "  Encyclopoedia 
Americana,"  under  the  head  of  "  The  Cotton  Manufacture,"  in 
a  communication  to  us,  published  in  this  journal  of  26th  Janua- 
ry, estimates  it  at  50,000,000  pounds.  According  to  the  same 
writer,  each  pound  of  cotton  will  make  4  yards  of  cloth — which 
is  less  than  other  statements  have  made  it,  and,  consequent- 
ly, there  are  manufactured,  in  the  United  States,  200,000,000 
yards. 

Now,  if  the  duty  upon  foreign  cotton  cloth  has  the  effect  of 
mcreasing  the  price  of  the  domestic  article  only  one  cent  per 
yard,  the  tax  amounts  to  two  millions  of  dollars. 

If  it  increases  it  two  cents  it  amounts  io  four  millions  of  dol- 
lars— and, 

If  it  increases  it  three  cents  it  amounts  to  six  millions  of  dol- 
lars. 

If,  instead  of  taking  the  estimates  of  the  writer  referred  to, 
which  are  the  most  moderate  we  recollect  to  have  seen,  and 
assume,  200,000  bales,  of  300  lbs.,  as  the  quantity  consumed, 
and  5  yards  as  the  quantity  of  cloth  manufactured  out  of  each 
pound,  according  to  a  Rhode  Island  statement  published  some 
time  ago,  we  should  have  300,000,000  yards,  which,  at  3  cents 
increased  price,  would  be  a  tax  upon  the  nation  of  nine  mil- 
lions of  dollars. 

We  shall  not,  however,  at  present,  lay  the  tax  at  more  than 
six  millions  of  dollars,  besides  what  goes  into  the  public  trea- 
sury, and  which  amounts  to  at  least  three  millions  of  dollars 
more,  as  will  appear  from  the  following. 

The  quantity  of  cotton  piece  goods  imported  into  the  United 
States — white,  printed,  and  coloured — with  the  quantities  ex- 
ported, was  as  follows : 

Wh  ite — Imported         Wh  ite — Exported. 

1825  -     -     -     $3,326,208     -     -     -     $705,339 

1826  -     -     -    -    2,260,024     -     -     -    -    682,407 

1827  -     -     -   -    2,584,994     ....    495,188 
Z 


266  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

White — Imported         White — Exported. 

1828  -     -     -    -    2,451,316     -  -     -    -    406,623 

1829  -     -     -    -    2,242,805     -  -     -    -    302,435 
Printed  4'  Cord  Inip.  Printed  6f  CoVd  Exp. 

1825  -     -     -  $7,709,830  -     -     -  $1,105,252 

1826  -     -     -  -    5,056,725  -     -     -  1,032,381 

1827  -     -     -  -    5,316,546  -     -     -  -    964,904 

1828  ...  -    6,133,844  -     -     -  1,402,103 

1829  -     -     -  -    4,404,078  ...  -    751,871 


$41,486,370  $7,848,503 

Now,  deducting  the  exports  from  the  imports,  we  have  an 
aggregate  of  $33,637,867,  the  amount  of  foreign  cotton  goods 
consumed  in  the  United  States  in  five  years,  being,  upon  an 
average,  $6,727,573  per  annum.  What  proportion  of  these 
goods  were  low  priced,  we  have  no  means  of  ascertaining. 
Upon  none  of  them,  however,  was  the  duty  less  than  25  per 
centum,  and,  if  there  were  any  which  cost  as  low  as  8f  cents 
per  square  yard,  the  duty  was  100  per  centum.  That  there 
was  a  great  proportion  of  them  which  cost  as  low  as  12  cents, 
we  have  the  evidence  of  an  intelligent  merchant,  familiar  with 
the  English  trade,  for  asserting ;  and  the  duty,  therefore,  we 
think,  will  not  be  overrated,  if  placed,  upon  the  whole,  at  50 
per  cent,  on  an  average,  or  say  $3,000,000. 

Leaving  out  of  the  question  the  amount  which  goes  into  the 
treasury,  let  us  now  see  how  the  bounty  of  six  millions,  paid  to 
the  manufacturers,  operates.  By  the  improved  machinery  now 
in  existence,  it  is  possible  for  one  person  to  spin,  in  a  day,  as 
much  cotton  as  will  make  fifty  yards  of  cloth,  and  it  is  possible 
for  another  person  to  weave  fifty  yards  of  cloth  in  a  day.  At 
this  rate,  each  twenty-five  yards  of  cloth  calls  for  the  labour  of 
one  person,  and,  consequently,  one  person,  in  a  year,  or  three 
hundred  working  days,  can  make  7,500  yards.  At  this  rate,  it 
would  require  26,667  operatives  to  make  200,000,000  yards. 
But  we  have  no  objection  to  fixing  the  number  at  50,000,  which 
is  nearly  double,  and  we  presume  that  no  one  will  say  that  we 
have  here  underrated  the  operatives  required  to  spin  and 
weave  all  the  cotton  cloth  manufactured  in  the  United  States. 
Now,  if  this  number  be  assumed,  it  will  follow,  that,  if  the  du- 
ty on  cotton  goods  increases  their  price  one  cent  a  yard,  it  ope- 
rates as  a  bounty  of  forty  dollars  a  head,  per  annum,  upon  ev- 
ery man,  woman,  and  child,  employed  throughout  the  United 
States,  in  the  cotton  manufacture,  which  is  precisely  equal  to 
the  pension  which  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  thinks  it  enough 
to  allow  to  the  old  revolutionary  soldiers,  who  fought  and  bled 
for  the  emancipation  of  the  country  from  the  very  sort  of  ty- 
ranny now  practised  by  a  majority  of  Congress.     If  the  duty, 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  267 

however,  operate  as  a  tax  of  iivo  cents  per  yard,  it  will  be 
equal  to  a  bounty  of  eighty  dollars  per  head,  and  if  of  three 
cents,  it  will  be  equal  to  a  bounty  of  one  hundred  and  twenty 
dollars  a  head,  for  every  operative,  young  and  old,  male  and 
female.  This  bounty,  it  will  be  recollected,  is  paid  to  the  mas- 
ter manufacturers,  over  and  above  the  fair  price  of  the  cloth — 
that  is,  the  price  which  the  consumer  would  have  to  pay  for  it 
if  there  were  no  duty.  In  other  words,  it  is  paid  as  a  gratuity, 
and,  as  this  latter  sum  is  much  more  than  the  whole  labour  of 
all  these  persons  is  worth,  keeping  them  employed  in  the  cotton 
manufacture  adds  no  more  to  the  wealth  of  the  community,  than 
if  they  were  all  kept  turning  grind  stones,  without  any  thing  to 
be  ground. 

Let  the  restriciionists  say  what  they  please,  their  system,  in 
all  its  parts,  comes  to  this,  and,  if  any  one  of  them  is  inclined 
to  attempt  to  refute  this  reasoning,  our  columns  are  open  to  his 
communications.  We  have  examined  this  subject  attentively. 
The  facts  we  assume  as  the  basis  of  our  reasoning  are  such  as 
any  man  can  ascertain  to  be  true,  and  the  conclusions  are  ne- 
cessary results  irom  those  facts.  We  now  declare,  and  we  de- 
fy contradiction,  that  it  would  be  advantageous  for  the  con- 
sumers of  cotton  goods  in  this  country,  rather  than  adhere  to 
the  present  system,  to  raise  a  fund,  similar  to  the  fund  we  have 
recommended  for  the  sugar  planters,  and  to  pay  out  of  it  a  si- 
necure of  five  thousand  dollars  a  year,  to  every  proprietor  of  a 
cotton  factory  in  the  United  States,  supposing  them  to  amount  to 
two  hundred,  and  a  salary  of  one  hundred  dollars  a  year  to  eve- 
ry man,  woman,  and  child,  employed  in  the  manufacture  of 
cotton,  as  a  consideration  for  standing  idle,  with  their  hands 
l.anging  down  by  their  sides,  and  letting  the  consumers  of  cot- 
ton goods  buy  them  where  they  can  get  them  cheapest.  Against 
such  a  proposition  no  objection  could  lie,  upon  the  ground  that 
it  would  be  depriving  the  operatives  of  their  living,  for  this  plan 
Mould  furnish  them  with  the  means  of  living  better,  without 
work,  than  they  now  possess,  with  work. 


ESSAY    No.    LXXXV. 

MARCH   2.    1831. 


Importance  of  the  study  of  Political  Economy  as  the  means  of 
removing  the  prejudice  of  the  working  classes  agai?ist  the 
capitalists.  Such  prejudices  shewn  to  be  injurious  to  the 
former. 

THOSE  persons  who  fancy  that  a  dissemination  of  the  true 
principles  of  political  economy,  at  this  particular  day,  can  have 


268  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

no  reference  to  the  general  interests  of  society,  except  as  re- 
gards the  tariff  and  internal  improvement  questions,  are  in 
great  error.  There  has  been  lately  awakened  amongst  the 
working-men,  in  diHerent  parts  of  the  country,  a  spirit  of  in- 
quiry, having  for  its  object  the  most  praiseworthy  measures — 
and,  whilst  in  some  (juarters  it  is  highly  gratifying  to  observe 
that  sound  and  sensible  views  of  the  true  interests  of  the  com- 
munity are  entertained,  yet,  in  others,  we  regret  to  say,  the 
most  pernicious  doctrines  are  advanced,  and  such  as,  if  permit- 
ted to  gain  strength,  by  the  apathy  of  those  who  are  bound  to 
interpose,  may  bring  incalculable  mischief  on  the  country. 

One  of  the  doctrines  which  has  struck  us  as  being  peculiar- 
ly destructive  of  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  the  nation,  is 
that  so  strongly  urged  of  late,  that  the  labourer  does  not  get,  in 
the  ordinary  distribution  of  wealth,  as  society  is  organized,  his 
proper  reward.  In  other  words,  that  the  owner  of  the  capital 
which  furnishes  the  means  of  employing  labour,  gels  more  than 
his  proper  share.  Now,  it  is  very  manifest,  that,  if  this  senti- 
ment should  become  widely  diffused,  it  will  lay  the  foundation 
for  the  bitterest  animosities  and  jealousies  between  those  who 
are  designed,  by  the  natural  order  of  things,  to  be  the  best 
friends  of  each  other:  and  it  is  the  duty,  as  it  is  clearly  the  in- 
terest, of  all  who  understand  this  subject,  to  assist  in  the  cir- 
culation of  proper  views  concerning  it.  Can  any  man  reflect 
for  a  moment  upon  the  condition  of  things  that  would  exist,  if 
the  great  mass  of  the  mechanics  and  other  working  people 
were  to  be  made  really  to  believe  that  they  were  deprived  of 
their  rights  by  the  arbitrary  power  of  the  rich,  without  per- 
ceiving the  necessity  of  endeavouring  to  arrest  it?  And  how  is 
this  to  be  done?  By  a  study  of  the  science  which  teaches 
how  to  explain  the  relations  between  the  capitalist  and  the  la- 
bourer ;  or,  if  time  or  taste  is  wanted  for  such  a  study,  by  con- 
tributing towards  the  support  of  editors  and  lecturers  who  are 
qualified  for  the  task,  and  in  no  other  way. 

Our  attention  has  recently  been  drawn  to  this  subject,  by  no- 
ticing, in  the  "  Practical  Politician,"  published  at  Boston,  a 
correspondence  between  the  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the 
Dorchester  Working-Men's  Association,  and  Stephen  Simpson, 
Esq.,  of  Philadelphia,  which  first  appeared  in  the  "  Mechanics' 
Free  Press,"  of  the  latter  city,  in  relation  to  this  subject.  The 
former  gentleman  addressed  to  Mr.  Simpson  a  letter,  asking 
his  opinion  as  to  the  best  means  of  remedying  the  evil  of  defi- 
cient rewards  for  labour.  From  Mr.  Simpson's  reply,  dated  on 
the  31st  December,  1830,  the  following  is  extracted: 

"  '  The  relation  between  the  prices  of  labour,  and  of  real  pro- 
perty, or  land,'  is  fraught  with  important  queries  and  deduc- 
tions. This  question  embraces  7-ents,  the  rates  of  interest,  and 
other  topics  of  great  interest.     Property,  lands,  rents,  interest. 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  269 

&c.,  have  all  been  rated  too  high,  from  the  prevalence  of  an 
opinion  that  tiie  capitalist,  the  land  proprietor,  &c.,  were 
more  meritorious  and  honourable  than  the  humble  bee  who  fills 
the  hive  with  honey.  It  was,  no  doubt,  on  this  f^'^//??,^,  that  la- 
bour was  originally  depressed,  and  the  scanty  pittance  of  bare 
livelihood  allowed  by  the  lord  to  his  vassal.  It  is  self-evident 
that  justice  never  ordained  the  present  relation  between  the  la- 
bourer and  the  capitalist.  Its  origin  was  feudal  barbarism. 
Land  derives  its  value  from  the  labour  bestowed  on  it;  and 
reason  and  equity  decree  a  due  proportion  to  him  who  toils,  oi' 
its  fruits.  When  the  labourer  can  barely  live,  after  paying  his 
rent,  and  accumulates  nothing — it  shows  that  the  rent  is  extor- 
tionate, and  lands  bear  a  disproportionate  value  to  labour.  So 
with  interest,  and  the  cost  of  land  on  sale.  These  species  of 
capital  are  all  too  high,  as  is  proved  by  the  poverty  of  the  pro- 
ducer and  the  opulence  of  the  capitalist.  Etiects  like  these  at 
once  proclaim  the  radical  injustice  of  the  principles  that  enter 
into  the  distribution  of  wealth.  The  man  whose  labour  imparts 
its  value  to  the  land,  should  receive  a  proportion  of  the  profits, 
which,  accumulated  judiciously,  would  enable  him  to  purchase 
the  same  in  a  certain  number  of  years — not  remain  for  ever  a 
slave  and  a  beggar,  whilst  the  proprietor  is  daily  adding  acre 
to  acre,  and  thousands  to  thousands,  without  stirring  from  his 
easy  chair.  Under  existing  regulations,  I  need  not  remark,  to 
one  of  your  habits  of  observation,  that  the  son  of  industry  is  al- 
most forever  the  slave  of  penury — whilst  the  capitalist  swallows 
all  the  fruits  of  his  toil,  in  rent,  interest,  &c.  How  shall  this 
be  corrected?  The  man  of  industry  is  under  the  necessity  of 
working  to  live — but  the  capitalist  will  only  employ  him  on  his 
own  terms ;  the  former  has  no  remedy,  therefore,  but  at  the 
polls — to  vote  for  men  who  will  bring  society  to  its  first  prin- 
ciples of  sound  constitutional  justice,  and  decree  to  merit  its 
reward — not  reward  idle  wealth  at  the  expense  of  merit. 

"  As  it  is  labour  that  gives  value  to  every  commodity — to 
land,  houses,  mines,  &c.,  &c., — so  have  I  ever  held  it  a  just  prin- 
ciple, in  regard  to  the  wages  of  labour,  that  skill  and  industry 
should  ever  be  to  their  possessor  as  much  a  source  of  compe- 
tency, as  capital ;  in  other  words,  industry  and  skill  ought  to  be 
real  capital  to  the  working-man,  which  should  yield  him  as 
large  a  share  of  promts  as  the  money-capital  of  the  stockholder 
does,  through  the  man  who  produces  his  interest  and  rent." 

In  these  remarks,  advanced,  we  are  quite  sure,  in  sincerity, 
and  with  a  laudable  zeal  for  the  interests  of  the  working  class- 
es, we  are  sorry  to  say,  that  there  lie  the  seeds  of  great  mis- 
chief, such  as  we  are  persuaded  Mr.  Simpson  would  not  volun- 
tarily be  the  means  of  occasioning.  They  have  already  ap- 
peared in  two  papers,  and  perhaps  will  be  extended  to  more, 
and  thus  will  a  heresy  be  widely  diffused,  under  the  sanction  of 
Z* 


270  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

a  gentleman  who  received  a  very  considerable  vote  as  a  candi- 
date for  Congress,  last  October,  in  the  district  composed  of  a 
part  of  Philadelphia  and  the  Southern  Liberties.  With  Mr. 
Simpson  we  have  been  personally  acquainted  from  early  life, 
and  we  have  no  feelings  towards  him  but  those  of  kindness — 
but,  as  we  most  decidedly  object  to  his  doctrines  as  above  put 
forth,  we  will  offer  a  few  remarks,  with  the  view  of  pointing 
out  what  we  conceive  to  be  their  error. 

The  first  unsound  position  invthe  above  quotation  is  contain- 
ed in  these  words  :  "  Property,  lands,  rents,  interests,  &c.,  have 
all  been  rated  too  high."  This  we  understand  to  mean,  that 
the  man  who  has  property  to  sell  can  get  more  for  it  than  it  is 
worth ;  that  the  man  who  has  lands  and  houses  to  rent  can 
get  more  for  them  than  they  are  worth  ;  that  the  man  who 
has  money  to  lend  can  get  more  for  it  than  it  is  worth.  Now, 
what  evidence  is  there  that  this  is  the  fact  ?  The  value  of  any 
species  of  property  and  commodity  is,  and  can  only  be  deter- 
mined by  the  competition  of  the  market.  If  a  house  will  sell  for 
ten  thousand  dollars,  it  is  because  the  purchaser  prefers  the 
house  to  ten  thousand  dollars,  and  it  is  just  as  fair  for  the  seller 
to  argue  that  the  ten  thousand  dollars  are  rated  too  high,  as  it 
is  for  the  purchaser  to  argue  that  the  house  is  rated  too  high. 
The  same  is  true  of  a  tract  of  land.  The  buyer  and  seller 
each  prefers  the  article  he  has  acquired  by  the  exchange — the 
one  prefers  the  money,  the  other  prefers  the  land.  So  in  the 
case  of  rent.  The  man  who  wants  a  house  has  the  choice  of 
all  the  empty  houses.  If  A  asks  too  much  rent,  he  may  apply 
to  B — if  B  asks  too  much,  he  may  apply  to  C.  To  all  these 
people  it  is  just  as  desirable  to  have  a  tenant,  as  it  is  for  the 
man  to  have  a  house,  and  the  price  that  must  be  paid  for  the 
rent  will  depend  upon  the  competition  of  the  market,  and  the 
tenant  will  have  no  more  right  to  say  that  the  landlord  charges 
too  much,  than  the  landlord  will  have  a  right  to  say  that  the 
tenant  pays  too  little.  The  case  is  the  same  in  reference  to  the 
interest  of  money.  There  are  hundreds  of  lenders,  and  there 
are  hundreds  of  borrowers,  and  the  interest  of  money,  in  any 
given  place,  upon  undoubted  security,  will  always  be  determin- 
ed by  the  competition  that  is  carried  on  between  them.  Where, 
however,  the  security  is  doubtful,  or  where  laws  interfere  to 
prevent  the  natural  competition  of  the  market,  by  imposing 
penalties  upon  loans  made  at  a  rate  exceeding  a  fixed  per 
centage,  there,  indeed,  an  additional  charge  will  be  made  for 
the  increased  risk,  and  for  the  odium  and  hazard  iiicurred  by 
taking  more  than  the  legal  rate.  But,  in  neither  case  has  the 
borrower  any  more  right  to  complain  that  the  lender  fixes  the 
interest  too  high,  than  the  lender  has  to  complain  that  the  bor- 
rower fixes  it  too  low.  Indeed,  there  is  no  possible  mode  of 
determining  the  exchangeable  value  of  a  thing,  but  the  price 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  271 

it  will  bring ;  and,  to  pretend  to  say  that  any  article  is  rated 
too  high,  is  tantamount  to  saying  that  there  is  another  law 
which  ought  to  regulate  prices,  than  the  laws  of  competition. 
Such  a  law  it  would  puzzle  a  wiser  man  than  those  who  rea- 
son thus  to  find  out,  and  we  doubt  if  there  is  a  working-man 
so  ignorant  of  his  own  interests  as  to  consent  to  have  the  value 
of  his  labour  determined  by  any  other  principle  than  would  be 
afforded  by  the  competition  of  the  whole  community. 

If  the  foregoing  positions  be  true,  Mr.  Simpson  is  not  cor- 
rect in  the  doctrine,  that  the  actual  rates  of  property,  land,  rent, 
and  interest,  are  owing  to  "  the  prevalence  of  an  opinion  that 
the  capitalist,  the  land  proprietor,  &c.,  were  more  meritorious 
and  honourable  than  the  humble  bee  who  fills  the  hive  with  ho- 
ney." For,  amongst  whom  could  the  opinion  here  referred  to 
have  been  so  prevalent  as  to  settle  the  rates  I  Surely  it  will 
not  be  pretended  that  tenants  and  borrowers,  a  body  vastly 
more  numerous  than  landlords  and  capitalists,  could  have  been 
so  silly  as  to  give  more  for  rent  and  interest  than  a  fair  rate, 
because  they  considered  the  latter  more  meritorious  and  ho- 
nourable than  themselves.  This  could  never  have  been  the  case ; 
and  it  is  very  manifest,  that,  as  it  takes  two  to  make  a  bargain, 
it  is  not  possible  that  the  landlords  and  capitalists,  from  any 
notions  they  entertained  of  their  own  merit  or  honour,  could 
have  settled  the  question.  And  yet  Mr.  Simpson  says,  "  it  was 
no  doubt  on  this  feeling  that  labour  was  originally  depressed, 
and  the  scanty  pittance  of  bare  livelihood  allotted  by  the  lord 
to  his  vassal."  If  Mr.  Simpson  can  see,  in  the  condition  of  the 
free  labouring  population  of  this  country,  any  similarity  to  that 
of  the  vassals  of  the  feudal  lords,  he  sees  what  we  have  never 
discovered,  and  what  we  doubt  if  any  working  freeman  in  this 
land  has  ever  yet  discovered.  The  laws  which  regulate  the 
rate  of  wages,  where  each  one  of  the  contracting  parties  has 
an  equal  right  to  stipulate  for  terms,  is  as  distinct  from  those 
which  prevail  where  one  party  alone  has  the  power  to  decide, 
as  liberty  is  distinct  from  slavery — and  there  is  between  them 
such  incongruity,  that  the  one  system  never  could  have  had  its 
origin  in  the  other.  The  laws  of  competition  would  have  exist- 
ed if  there  had  never  been  a  vassal  in  the  world,  and  the  wages 
of  labour  in  this  country  are  neither  higher  nor  lower  than 
they  would  have  been  if  no  feudal  system  had  ever  been  heard 
of. 

But  "  Land  derives  its  value  from  the  labour  bestowed  upon 
it,  and  reason  and  equity  decree  a  due  proportion  to  him  who 
toils,  of  its  fruits."  There  can  be  nothing  more  true  than  the 
latter  branch  of  this  proposition,  nor  is  there  any  thing  more 
true  than  that  he  who  toils  on  the  land  does  get  "  a  due  fvopor- 
tion  of  its  fruits."  Were  this  due  proportion  not  received  by 
farmers  and  agricultural  labourers,  they  would  very  soon  aban- 


272  ESSAYS    ON    THE     PRINCIPLES 

don  the  land  in  the  old  settled  countries,  and  go  to  the  West, 
"where  they  can  procure  land  for  a  dollar  and  a  quarter  an  acre 
— or,  if  they  have  not  the  means  to  purchase,  where  they  can 
rent  a  farm  for  a  very  low  sum,  or  where  they  can  command, 
for  a  week's  work,  as  much  of  the  fruits  of  the  land  as  they 
can  consume  in  a  month.  The  illustration  of  land  was  badly 
chosen  on  this  occasion.  No  man,  who  reflects  upon  the  toil, 
and  labour,  and  expense,  of  clearing  a  farm,  of  fencing  it,  of 
erecting  a  dwelling-house,  a  barn,  stables,  and  out-houses  up- 
on it,  and  planting  an  orchard,  would  consider  the  rent  which 
the  landlord  usually  receives  for  it-  as  too  great  a  share  of  the 
joint  produce  of  the  land  and  labour ;  for,  let  it  never  be  forgot- 
ten, in  an  argument  of  this  sort,  that  the  land  does  its  share  of 
the  work  of  production.  That  land  is  rated  too  high,  Mr.  Simp- 
son undertakes  to  argue,  from  "  the  poi;er^?/ of  the  producer,  and 
the  opulence  of  the  capitalist."  But,  where  is  the  evidence  of 
the  poverty  of  the  producer  ?  Is  there  any  class  of  people  in  the 
world  so  happy,  so  independent,  so  exempt  from  the  misfortune 
of  poverty,  as  the  American  agriculturist?  We  believe  there  is 
none.  But  it  may  be  said,  they  do  not  rent  their  farm.s,  they 
are  themselves  the  owners.  If  this  be  so,  they  are  then  the 
very  capitalists  to  whom  all  this  opulence  is  ascribed.  But 
where  does  this  opulence  show  itself?  Is  it  to  be  found  in  splen- 
did mansions,  gorgeous  equipages,  luxurious  living,  magnificent 
furniture  and  apparel  ?  No.  We  see  no  such  emblems  of 
wealth  throughout  our  republican  country.  But  we  do  see 
comfortable  and  substantial  dwellings,  fertile  and  highly  culti- 
vated fields,  strong  teams,  comfortable  firesides,  warm  apparel, 
and  abundant  tables  loaded  with  wholesome  food.  These,  how- 
ever, are  the  fruits  of  the  industry  of  the  working-man,  united 
to  the  profits  of  the  capitalist,  and  this  happy  combination  proves, 
most  incontestibly,  that  the  interests  of  the  two  are  so  fairly  and 
advantageously  blended,  that  the  working-man  could  not  do 
without  the  capitalist,  nor  the  capitalist  without  the  working- 
man.  But,  of  all  countries  on  earth,  this  is  the  one  in  which 
the  least  odium  should  attach  to  land  owners — and  we  are  at  a 
loss  to  conceive  how  Mr.  Simpson  could  have  permitted  him- 
self to  indulge  in  a  reflection  against  three-fourths  of  our  farmers, 
for  at  least  that  proportion  are  capitalists — that  is,  the  owners 
of  their  farms. 

But  Mr.  Simpson  thinks  that  those  who  rent  farms,  and  who, 
perhaps,  by  paying  an  annual  rent  of  one  or  two  hundred  dol- 
lars, are  furnished  with  the  means  of  maintaining  their  families 
in  connfort  and  respectability,  pay  too  much.  He  thinks  that 
"  the  man  whose  labour  imparts  value  to  the  land" — (he  should 
rather  have  said  imparts  value  to  the  seed  which  he  sows  for 
the  joint  benefit  of  himself  and  the  landlord) — ought  to  get 
enough  to  purchase  the  same  "  in  a  certain  number  of  years." 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  273 

Now,  we  can  assure  Mr.  Simpson,  that  this  is  most  generally 
the  case.  This  "  certain  number,"  however,  is  not  very  defi- 
nite. He  certainly  cannot  do  it  in  five  years,  but  may  in  ten, 
fifteen,  or  twenty ;  and  there  is  no  reason  why  a  man  who 
works  on  a  farm,  should  be  able,  in  less  time,  to  buy  out  his 
landlord,  than  that  a  sailor  on  board  a  ship  should,  in  the  same 
time,  be  able  to  buy  out  the  owner  of  the  vessel.  The  accu- 
mulation of  capital  is  a  very  slow  process,  and  it  can  only  be 
accomplished  with  great  economy  and  prudence  by  those  who 
have  nothing  but  their  labour  to  begin  with.  But  by  no  people 
is  it  more  effectually  or  more  extensively  accomplished,  in  this 
country,  than  by  those  who  labour.  Look  at  the  value  of  the 
capital,  in  farms,  and  houses,  created  by  labour,  within  thirty 
years,  in  our  Western  country,  and  say  whether  all  the  fortunes 
amassed  by  commerce  and  speculation,  on  the  sea-board,  are 
to  be  compared  to  it,  and  then  say  whether  there  is  any  foun- 
dation for  the  remark  that  "  the  son  of  industry  is  almost  for- 
ever the  slave  of  penury." 

But,  "  How  shall  this  be  corrected  ?"  Aye,  that  is  the  question. 
It  is  one,  however,  that  is  easily  answered :  Abolish  restrictions 
on  industry — keep  in  mind  the  fable  of  the  boys  and  the  frogs, 
and  never  leave  out  of  sight,  that,  if  you  protect  one  class  of  peo- 
ple in  pelting  another,  you  inflict  upon  the  injured  class  a 
greater  evil  than  can  be  compensated  for  by  all  the  good  which 
is  conferred  upon  the  favoured  one.  Electing  to  public  stations 
men  who  hold  the  doctrines  put  forth  by  Mr.  Simpson,  is  the 
worst  of  all  possible  modes  of  remedying  any  of  the  existing 
evils.  They  will  only  make  it  worse.  They  do  not  see  where 
the  disease  lies.  Like  Doctor  Sangrado,  they  ascribe  the  de- 
rangement of  the  body  politic  to  too  little  blood  having  been 
drawn,  when  it  owes  its  debility  to  too  free  a  use  of  the  lancet, 
and  thus,  in  attempting  to  cure,  they  kill. 

Mr.  Simpson,  finally,  to  sum  up  his  argument,  says — "  In 
other  words,  industry  and  skill  ought  to  be  real  capital  to  the 
working-man,  which  should  yield  him  as  large  a  share  of  pro- 
fits as  the  money-capital  of  the  stockholder  does,  through  the 
man  who  produces  his  interest  and  rent."  From  this  remark 
it  would  appear,  that  Mr.  Simpson  does  not  believe  that  indus- 
try and  skill  do  yield  the  working-man  as  large  a  share  of  pro- 
fits as  the  money-capital  of  the  stockholder.  But  do  we  not 
see  that  this  is  the  case  uniformly  1  Farms  are  let  out  on  the 
shares  very  often — the  landlord  and  tenant  each  taking  one 
half.  Very  often  farms  are  rented,  and  the  tenant,  at  the  end 
of  the  year,  after  maintaining  his  family  better  than  he  could 
do  if  they  were  hired  out  at  wages,  lays  up  as  much  as  he  pays 
rent  to  the  landlord.  We  see  it  also  in  other  pursuits,  in  re- 
gard to  the  owner  of  money.  A  man  possesses  $100,  which 
he  lends  to  a  mechanic  for  $8  for  a  year.     The  mechanic  con- 


274  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

verts  it  into  wood,  and  makes  furniture  of  it,  which  he  sells  for 
$  150 — into  leather,  and  makes  boots  and  shoes  of  it,  which  ho 
sells  lor  !i^l75 — into  furs,  and  makes  hats  of  it,  which  he  sells 
for  $200,  and  so  on.  We  do  not  believe  there  is  a  single  arti- 
cle, upon  which  the  labour  of  a  mechanic  or  working-man  is 
brought  to  operate,  in  regard  to  which  the  capitalist  gets  any 
thing  like  one-half  of  the  additional  value  imparted  to  it  by  the 
labour. 

But  let  us  take  a  case,  which  will  present  the  question  most 
fairly,  A  mechanic  is  able  to  apply  his  industry  upon  a  raw 
material,  in  the  course  of  a  year,  to  a  certain  extent,  which  re- 
quires a  capital  of  $1000,  we  will  suppose.  Without  this  ca- 
pital he  would  be  unable  to  employ  his  industry.  Now,  if  he 
borrows  it  of  a  capitalist,  he  must  pay  for  the  use  of  it  $00  for 
a  year  ;  and  we  will  ask  any  man  if  that  sum  is  any  thing  near 
the  share  of  profits  which  he  himself  is  enabled  to  derive  from 
the  possession  of  that  capital  ?  In  many  branches  of  business 
the  labourer  gets  nine-tenths  of  the  increased  value  imparted  to 
a  raw  material,  and  the  capitalist  but  one  ;  and  yet  the  one  is 
represented  as  an  extortioner,  who  can  demand  his  own  terms, 
and  the  other  as  a  victim  to  rapacity,  who  has  no  share  in  mak- 
ing the  bargain. 

We  cannot  suppose  that  Mr.  Simpson  meant  to  say,  that  a 
working-man,  whose  labour  is  worth  $300  a  year,  ought  to 
have  as  large  an  income  as  a  man  who  owns  $  10,000.  If  ho 
chooses  thai  skill  and  industry  shall  stand  in  the  place  of  capital, 
(for  they  never  can  be  capital  itself,  seeing  that  capital  and  in- 
dustry are  as  distinct  as  a  value  already  created  and  the  mere 
power  to  create  a  value,)  he  must  fix  some  rule  for  the  adjust- 
ment. He  certainly  would  not  attach  the  same  capital-value 
to  the  industry  of  a  rag-man  that  he  would  to  that  of  a  hod- 
carrier — nor  would  he  place  the  industry  of  this  latter  on  a  par 
with  that  of  a  mechanic — nor  would  he  place  that  of  all  me- 
chanics upon  the  same  footing,  seeing  that  some  branches  of 
business  require  more  intelligence,  bodily  strength,  genius,  and 
a  longer  term  of  apprenticeship,  to  learn,  than  others,  and  that 
some  are  more  unhealthy,  and  more  confining  than  others — 
whilst,  between  individuals,  even  of  the  same  trade,  there  is  a 
great  difference,  in  physical  power,  in  skill,  dexterity,  industry, 
and  moral  conduct,  which  of  themselves  confer  claims  to  su- 
perior reward.  Where,  then,  shall  we  find  a  standard  by 
Vv'hich  to  ascertain  the  precise  quantum  of  skill  and  industry 
which  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  equivalent  of  a  given  amount  of 
capital  ?  Where  shall  we  find  it  ?  Nowhere  but  in  the  mar- 
ket rate  of  wages  and  of  interest,  for  it  exists  nowhere  else. 
And  when  a  labourer,  in  a  state  of  free  competition,  gets  a  dol- 
lar a  day  for  his  work,  he  receives  the  precise  proportion,  nei- 
ther more  nor  less,  that  he  ought  to  receive,  in  the  most  equit- 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  275 

able  of  all  possible  modes  of  dividing  the  profits  which  his  la- 
bour and  the  capital  of  the  capitalist  have,  by  their  joint  co-ope- 
ration, produced.  In  like  manner,  the  owner  of  the  capital, 
who  receives  his  six  dollars,  for  the  use,  for  a  whole  year,  of 
»  one  hundred  dollars,  receives  the  precise  proportion  to  which 
he  is  entitled,  under  the  most  equitable  distribution.  All  at- 
tempts to  disturb  the  law  of  competition  must  be  attended  with 
mischief  to  the  labourer.  If  it  be  attempted  to  lower  the  rate 
of  interest,  by  law,  below  the  market  rate,  capital  will  fly  to 
some  other  place,  to  seek  more  profitable  employment,  and  the 
labourer  will  find,  that,  as  he  has  fewer  capitalists  to  deal  with, 
the  rate  of  interest  will  be  increased  upon  him. 

After  writing  the  principal  part  of  the  foregoing  comments, 
a  friend  placed  in  our  hands  a  work,  published  in  London,  in 
December  last,  very  intimately  connected  with  the  same  sub- 
ject. It  consists  of  three  Lectures  upon  Wages,  delivered,  at 
the  University  of  Oxford,  by  Mr.  Senior,  formerly  Professor  of 
Political  Economy  in  that  Institution,  and  whose  Lectures  up- 
on the  transmission  of  the  precious  metals  from  one  country 
to  another,  were  so  deservedly  admired  by  the  readers  of  the 
Free  Trade  Advocate,  in  which  they  were  published  by  us. 
These  Lectures,  which  are  not  long,  are  preceded  by  a  preface, 
containing  much  instructive  matter  ;  and,  as  we  do  not  know 
how  we  could  fill  up  an  equal  portion  of  our  paper  to  as  much 
advantage  as  by  giving  the  whole  to  our  readers, it  is  our  in- 
tention to  do  so.  The  theory  of  wages  is  in  itself  an  abstract 
subject,  and,  although  one  which  will  not  be  interesting  to  all 
of  our  readers,  we  know  it  will  be  acceptable  to  many. 

The  copy  placed  in  our  hands,  as  above  mentioned,  and  of 
which  we  commence  the  publication  this  daj^  was  accompani- 
ed by  a  short  note,  which,  as  it  contains  some  facts  known  to 
the  writer,  who  has  lately  visited  England,  we  take  the  liberty 
of  transcribing.  The  testimony  he  bears  to  the  services  which 
Mr.  Senior  has  rendered  to  the  cause  of  science,  corresponds 
with  the  general  sentiment  of  our  friends  on  this  side  the  At- 
lantic, who  have  made  political  economy  a  study,  and  whose 
opinions  are  known  to  us,  and  we  feel  well  pursuaded  that  they 
will  rejoice  to  hear  that  an  opportunity  will  be  soon  afforded  of 
seeing  a  complete  edition  of  his  Lectures. 

"  In  England  the  study  of  Political  Economy,  as  a  science,  is 
rapidly  spreading,  and  the  principles  of  the  liberal  system  pro- 
portionably  extending.  The  young  are  growing  up  imbued 
with  its  truths,  and  reflecting  men  of  every  age  in  the  commu- 
nity, uniting  in  their  support,  so  that  we  may,  ere  long,  look 
with  confidence  for  their  practical  influence  in  the  policy  of 
that  government.  It  is  the  conquest  of  reason  over  prejudice, 
and,  in  proportion  to  the  difiusion  of  sound  knowledge,  it  must 
and  will  go  on.     Nothing  has  tended  more  to  this  improvement. 


276  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

than  the  introduction  of  PoUtical  Economy  as  an  academic 
study,  into  the  University  of  Oxford,  and  the  ability  with 
which  the  duties  of  that  department  have  been  performe.d  by 
its  late  Professor,  Nassau  W.  Senior,  Esq.,  of  Gray's  Inn,  Lon- 
don. This  gentleman,  uniting  the  precision  and  knowledge 
of  the  lawyer  to  the  enlarged  views  of  the  economist,  has  not 
only  shown  how  happily  such  studies  may  be  blended,  but,  by 
applying  to  his  new  duties  the  nice  discrimination  and  rigid 
analysis  which  belong  to  his  actual  profession,  has  added  to 
the  strength  and  clearness  of  its  conclusions.  The  tenure  of 
the  Professorship  being  limited  to  five  years,  he  has  now  yield- 
ed it  to  a  worthy  successor.  Dr.  Whately,  Principal  of  St.  Al- 
ban's  Hall,  Oxford,  whose  merits,  as  a  sound  and  logical  rea- 
soner,  are  well  known.  The  conditions  of  the  endowment  re- 
quire an  annual  publication  of  at  least  two  lectures.  Those  of 
Mr.  Senior's,  published  under  this  provision,  are  already  well 
known ;  and  it  is  understood  that  the  whole  course  delivered 
by  him,  will,  ere  long,  be  given  to  the  public.  Three  Lectures 
upon  the  subject  of  Wages,  he  has  recently  republished,  as  hav- 
ing a  bearing  upon  the  present  distress  of  England ;  the  pre- 
face to  which,  now  added,  points  out  with  great  truth,  as  ap- 
pears to  me,  both  the  causes  and  the  remedies  of  the  evil." 


ESSAY   No.   LXXXVI. 

MARCH  9,    1831. 

Adjournment  of  Congress.     Prospects  of  the  Free  Trade  cause. 
Upon  its  success  depends  the  continuance  of  the  Union. 

CONGRESS  having  now  adjourned,  the  city  of  Washington, 
for  the  ensuing  nine  months,  will  be  no  longer  the  point  to 
which  the  public  eye  will  be  turned  to  discover  the  indications 
of  the  policy  by  which  this  government  is  to  be  hereafter 
guided.  Those  who  are  anxious  on  the  subject,  who  believe 
with  us,  that  the  approaching  contest  will  be  terminated  by  the 
establishment  of  a  government  of  unlimited  powers,  or  the  over- 
throw of  the  American  System,  who  regard  the  question  now 
at  issue  as  destined  to  settle  the  fate  of  the  Republic,  will  very 
naturally  look  to  the  press  for  such  light  on  the  subject,  as  may 
enable  them  to  judge  whether  any  probability  exists  that  the 
returning  good  sense  of  those  who  have,  for  a  time,  favoured 
the  destructive  policy  which  is  now  shaking  this  Union  to  its 
centre,  is,  or  is  not,  likely  to  restore  the  country  to  that  peace 
and  harmony  which  all  good  men  must  so  earnestly  desire. 
Indeed,  if  some  strong  indications  of  a  return  to  the  true  prin- 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  277 

ciples  upon  which  this  government  was  founded,  should  not  be 
manifested  before  the  next  meeting  of  Congress,  that  body- 
will  assemble  under  circumstances  of  the  most  painful  charac- 
ter. Those  who  have  lulled  themselves  into  the  belief  that 
the  excited  state  of  the  South  is  cither  partial  or  evanes- 
cent, and  that  it  will  subside  without  the  redress  of  the  griev- 
ances complained  of,  have  paid  little  attention  to  the  course  of 
public  opinion  for  seven  years,  and  have  profited  little  by  the 
experience  of  the  last  half  century  in  reference  to  every  con- 
test for  liberty.  Pending  the  discontents  of  the  colonies  which 
now  form  this  Confederation  of  States,  prior  to  177G,  the 
British  Government  fancied  that  harsh  language  and  strong 
measures  would  silence  the  complaints  of  those  who  were 
murmuring  at  unlawful  taxation.  At  a  subsequent  period, 
France  thought  that  the  kidnapping  of  Touissaint  L'Ouverture, 
and  the  letting  loose  of  some  kennels  of  bloodhounds,  would 
quiet  the  discontents  of  St.  Domingo.  When  the  Spanish 
king  was  told  that  Venezuela,  Buenos  Ayres,  Montivedeo, 
Chili,  Peru,  Guatimala,  and  Mexico  were  in  a  state  of  excite- 
ment which  would  lead  to  their  dismemberment  from  the  Cas- 
tilian  empire,  he  ascribed  such  communications  to  the  unfound- 
ed fears  of  those  about  him,  who  did  not  understand  human 
nature  as  well  as  himself  Don  John  of  Portugal,  exhibited 
the  same  incredulity,  and,  in  1822,  when  he  was  told  that  Bra- 
zil would  separate  from  the  mother  country,  he  and  the  Cortes 
laughed  at  the  silly  suggestion. 

It  is,  perhaps,  in  the  nature  of  things,  that  those  who  are  in 
the  possession  of  power  should  never  have  a  full  sense  of  the 
danger  of  overstepping  the  bounds  of  moderation  in  its  exer- 
cise. Sometimes,  however,  we  see  discretion  interpose  to 
ward  off  impending  convulsions.  Mr.  Jeflerson  gave  up  the 
embargo  because  he  saw  that  the  New  England  States  pro- 
tested against  it  as  an  unconstitutional  measure,  and  because 
he  thought  that  a  longer  perseverance  in  it  would  drive  them 
to  a  separation.  In  later  times,  the  British  ministry  yielded  to 
the  Catholics,  upon  the  gi'ound  that  indications  of  an  approach- 
ing civil  war  were  too  manifest  to  remain  unnoticed.  But  in- 
stances of  infatuation  kept  up  to  the  last  moment,  are,  per- 
haps, most  frequent.  The  expulsion  of  Charles  the  Tenth 
from  France,  of  the  House  of  Orange  from  Belgium,  of  Con- 
stantine  from  Poland,  were  all  of  them  events  no  more  likely 
to  happen  eight  months  ago,  than  the  expulsion  of  King  Phi- 
lip from  France,  or  of  King  William  from  Great  Britain  is 
at  this  day.  A  very  small  portion  of  the  dissatisfaction  which 
really  exists  any  where,  under  oppression,  is  allowed  to  show 
itself  in  outward  acts,  and  it  is  only  when  a  storm  is  raised, 
that  the  elements  of  opposition  are  truly  displayed.  Who 
would  have  pronounced  on  the  25th  dav  of  last  July,  that  there 
2  A 


278  ESSAYS    ON    THE     PRINCIPLES 

was  in  Paris  a  feeling  which,  if  once  aroused  by  a  potent 
cause,  would  change  the  form  of  the  government,  and  drive 
headlong  from  his  throne,  in  the  short  space  of  three  days,  the 
man  who  knew  not  how  to  respect  the  charter  under  which  he 
exercised  his  power  I  When  liberty  is  at  stake,  men  care  little 
about  consequences,  and  whether  the  liberty  which  has  been 
violated  by  rulers  be  that  of  speech,  or  of  the  press,  or  of  the 
hand,  by  taking  from  the  mouth  of  labour  the  bread  ii  has 
earned,  it  matters  but  little.  Redress  will  be  sought  in  pre- 
cisely the  same  way,  and  with  as  complete  a  recklessness  of 
the  consequences.  Does  it  not,  then,  behoove  those  who  have 
an  interest  in  the  perpetuation  of  this  Union,  and  our  republi- 
can institutions,  to  weigh  well  the  mighty  results  that  may 
flow  from  a  longer  refusal  to  listen  to  the  arguments  of  those 
who  say  they  are  wronged  by  the  mode  in  which  this  Govern- 
ment has  been  lately  administered  ?  Is  it  becoming  a  wise  and 
patriotic  people  to  look  upon  the  voice  of  the  Southern  states 
as  entitled  to  no  respect,  because  they  do  not  send  to  Congress 
a  majority  of  its  members  ?  Have  minorities  no  rights  under  a 
government  designed  to  be  one  of  limited  powers,  and  powers 
expressly  limited  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  minorities? 
What  those  States  complain  of,  and  what  they  have  a  right  to 
complain  of,  is,  that  the  people  of  the  North  will  not  listen  to 
their  appeals  for  justice.  They  deny  the  right  of  any  man  to 
pronounce  a  judgment  upon  the  merits  of  their  cause,  without 
hearing  what  they  have  to  say.  They  complain  that  the 
northern  press  is  closed  to  their  remonstrances,  and  that  ration- 
al, legal,  and  constitutional  arguments  are  met  by  denunciations 
and  contumely.  Indeed,  so  coarse  a  domination,  so  contemptu- 
ous an  indifference,  and  so  stubborn  a  disregard  of  a  decent 
respect  for  sovereign  States  have  been  displayed,  that  we  do 
not  see  how  any  patriotic  mind  can  behold  them  with  compo- 
sure. 

North  of  the  Potomac  this  Journal  is  the  only,  one  mainly  de- 
voted to  the  discussion  of  questions  of  free  trade  and  constitu- 
tional liberty.  To  its  columns,  therefore,  have  its  patrons  a 
right  to  look  for  such  intelligence  as  may  throw  light  upon  the 
actual  state  of  the  contest.  Just  in  proportion  as  reason  and 
argument  appear  to  be  likely  to  produce  the  change  in  pubUc 
policy,  which  can  alone  save  the  Republic,  will  forbearance  and 
long-suffering  operate  on  the  minds  of  those  who  almost  now 
despair  of  redress,  except  from  a  resort  to  measures  which 
they,  as  well  as  all  others,  would  deeply  deplore.  With  the  de- 
sign, therefore,  of  bringing  the  matter  as  it  really  stands  into  the 
view  of  our  readers,  we  shall  extract  more  copiously  than  we 
have  heretofore  done,  from  the  different  papers  in  the  North 
and  West,  with  which  we  exchange,  such  articles  as  may  be 
calculated  to  show  whether  or  no  the  anticipations  which  we 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  279 

have  always  entertained,  that  the  American  System  would  be 
overthrown,  are  likely  to  be  realized. 

Already  have  there  appeared  some  articles  favourable  to  our 
principles,  in  quarters  where,  three  months  ago,  not  a  breath 
would  have  been  uttered  on  the  subject,  and  these  may  be  con- 
sidered as  indications  of  a  latent  disposition  to  come  out  by 
degrees  in  proportion  as  the  public  mind  is  prepared  for  the 
truth.  The  party  press  will  no  doubt  become  more  and  more 
enHsted  in  the  contest  than  it  has  heretofore  been,  and  many 
who  have  not  ventured  to  denounce  the  restrictive  policy,  as  the 
American  System,  will  do  it  as  Mr.  Clay's  System.  We  shall 
also  copy  from  our  southern  and  southwestern  papers,  suffi- 
cient matter  to  enable  our  readers  in  other  quarters  to  see  what 
impression? have  been  produced  upon  the  public  mind  in  those 
regions,  by  the  closing  of  the  session  of  Congress  without  the 
adoption  of  a  single  measure  calculated  to  inspire  them  with 
the  belief  that  a  relaxation  of  the  restrictive  shackels  is  soon 
likely  to  take  place. 

Before  closing  these  remarks,  we  take  the  liberty  of  soliciting 
from  our  various  friends  throughout  the  Union,  during  the  sea- 
son when  they  make  their  remittances,  communications  as  to 
the  state  of  public  opinion  in  their  respective  neighbourhoods. 
It  is  possible  for  them  to  make  this  journal  the  instrument  of 
great  good  to  the  cause  which  they  have  so  much  at  heart.  The 
concentration  of  the  evidence  which  could  be  furnished  by 
several  hundreds  of  our  subscribers,  could  not  fail  to  afibrd 
mutual  aid  and  support,  and,  as  public  opinion  acquires  a  body 
and  strength,  in  proportion  as  each  individual  knows  how- 
others  think  and  feel,  in  the  same  manner  that  the  right  wing  of 
an  army  in  an  engagement  fights  better  w^hen  it  knows  that 
the  battle  is  well  maintained  on  the  extreme  left,  much  is  to 
be  gained  by  having  one  common  depository  of  intelligence. 
The  circulation  of  this  paper  throw^s  it  into  the  view  of  near 
a  hundred  editors,  located  in  nearly  all  of  the  States.  It 
reaches,  besides,  most  of  the  Departments  and  Bureaus  of  the 
Federal  Government,  some  fifty  or  sixty  members  of  Congress, 
who  patronize  it  throughout  the  year,  the  Governors  of  several 
States,  a  number  of  members  of  State  Legislatures,  a  consider- 
able body  of  lawyers  who  travel  the  circuits,  of  planters,  far- 
mers, and  scientific  political  economists,  near  a  hundred  phy- 
sicians who  have  patients  to  visit,  four  or  five  Colleges,  read- 
ing Rooms  in  several  of  our  cities,  and  the  counting  houses  of 
some  of  the  most  intelligent  merchants.  With  these  chances 
of  circulation,  as  far  as  they  extend,  it  may  be  seen  that  this 
paper  has  access  to  the  most  efficient  channels  for  embodying 
public  opinion,  which  the  country  affords,  and  if  its  future  use- 
fulness shall  not  be  equal  to  its  capabilities,  it  will  not  be  the 
fault  of  the  Editor. 


280  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 


ESSAY    No.    L  XX  XVII. 

MARCH   9,    1831. 

Political  Econojny  taught  in  several  institutions  in  this  country 
Professor  Vetkake's  Introductory  Lecture. 

IT  is  already  known  to  our  readers  that  Political  Economy- 
is  taught,  as  a  branch  of  liberal  education,  in  Columbia  Col- 
lege, New  York,  in  William  and  Mary,  Virginia,  and  in  the 
South  Carolina  College,  under  Professors  McVickar,  Dew,  and 
Cooper,  respectively.  Those  who  admire  that  science,  and 
who  regard  it  as  one  of  the  chief  studies  to  which  the  youth- 
ful mind  should  be  directed  in  a  country  where  the  avenues  to 
public  stations  are  open  to  all,  will  now  learn  with  pleasure 
that  a  course  of  lectures  has  been  recently  instituted  at  Prince- 
ton College,  a  seminary  celebrated  for  the  number  of  eminent 
and  enlightened  men  who  claim  it  as  their  Alma  Mater.  The 
Introductory  Lecture  to  this  course  was  delivered  by  Professor 
Vethake,  on  the  31st  of  January  last,  and  has  since  been  pub- 
lished in  pamphlet  form,  "  at  the  request  of  the  Senior  Class." 
A  copy  of  it  will  be  found  in  our  paper  of  this  day,  and,  as  it 
is  written  by  one  who  thoroughly  understands  the  subject,  and 
in  adaptation  to  the  minds  of  those  who  have  not  yet  studied 
it  closely,  it  will  be  easily  understood  by  any  one  who  will  take 
the  trouble  to  peruse  it.  For  our  parts,  as  humble  amateurs  of 
the  science,  we  feel  under  great  obligations  to  Professor  Vet- 
hake  for  the  able  and  spirited  manner  in  which  he  has  defend- 
ed the  champions  of  the  true  faith,  by  separating  them  from  the 
ignorant  empyrics  and  quacks,  who,  because  they  have  stored 
their  heads  and  their  libraries  with  a  mass  of  statistical  tables, 
fancy  themselves  capable  of  teaching  doctrines  with  which  they 
are  utterly  unacquainted. 

In  this  lecture,  which  we  earnestly  recommend  to  the  reader, 
the  Professor  very  properly  urges  that  every  student,  who  is, 
as  one  of  the  people,  destined  in  future  life  to  exercise  the  pri- 
vilege and  perform  the  duty  of  an  independent  elector,  ought 
to  feel  himself  bound  to  direct  a  portion  of  his  attention  to  the 
science.  In  this  sentimenc  we  know  that  all  concur  who  have 
themselves  examined  into  the  importance  of  the  study.  Nine- 
tenths  of  the  misery  now  suffered  by  the  population  of  Europe 
and  this  country  arises  from  the  ignorance  of  those  who  are 
placed  at  the  head  of  affairs,  of  political  philosophy,  a  branch 
of  knowledge  as  indispensable  to  the  statesman,  as  that  of  na- 
vigation is  to  the  mariner.  So  long  as  this  neglect  of  the  only 
means  adapted  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  end  of  good  go- 
vernment continues,  so  long  will  portions  of  society  be  distress- 
ed, and  so  long  will  there  exist  a  liability  to  fall  into  greater 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  281 

evils  owing  to  the  want  of  knowledge  of  the  causes  which 
occasion  the  existing  ones.  Thd  case  is  even  now  plainly  pre- 
sented before  us.  Our  restrictive  laws  have  deprived  more 
people  of  employment,  in  some  branches  of  industry,  than  have 
gained  employment  in  others.  Their  operation,  however,  be- 
ing insidious,  indirect,  and  invisible,  the  mind  of  the  uneducat- 
ed man  is  incapable  of  seeing  the  cause  of  his  loss  of  employ- 
ment. Political  demagogues  and  quack  doctors,  tell  him  that 
his  suffering  is  owing  to  the  circumstance  that  the  restriction 
has  not  been  pushed  far  enough,  and  he,  falling  into  the  snare, 
advocates  a  policy,  by  his  vote,  which  renders  his  situation,  or 
that  of  somebody  else,  more  wretched  still. 

The  Professor  states,  what  is  perfectly  correct,  that  there  is 
now  going  on  a  great  contest  between  truth  and  error,  and  he 
asks,  with  great  justice,  "  Are  we  not  called  on  by  a  sense  of 
duty  to  take  a  side,  at  least,  if  we  have  the  opportunity  of  ac- 
quiring the  requisite  information  to  enable  us  to  make  up  an 
opinion  1  And  does  not  he  who  remains  neutral  in  such  a  con- 
test, and  in  such  circumstances,  in  fact  take  the  side  of  error, 
by  contributing  to  retard  the  progress  of  knowledge,  and  to  de- 
lay the  period  of  the  ultimate  triumph  of  truth,  which  it  is  in  his 
power,  and  ivkich  it  is  his  duty  to  accelerate  V  We  recommend 
these  serious  questions  to  the  especial  perusal  of  certain  of  our 
editorial  brethren,  who,  convinced  as  firmly  of  the  truth  of  the 
free  trade  doctrines  as  was  Adam  vSmith  himself,  are,  never- 
theless, upholding  the  cause  of  what  they  know  to  he  untrue,  by 
closing  their  columns  to  free  discussions  of,  if  not  by  positive 
eulogiums  upon,  the  restrictive  policy.  We  would  ask  such  if 
they  can  lay  their  hands  upon  their  hearts,  and  say,  with  a 
clear  conscience,  that  they  are  performing  their  duty  as  honest 
men,  as  virtuous  citizens,  as  pure  patriots  ?  Can  personal  or 
political  devotion  to  any  man,  or  any  party,  justify  an  aban- 
donment of  principle,  and  especially  at  a  period  when  all  the 
influence  of  philosophy,  and  all  the  aid  of  integrity,  are  called 
in  requisition  to  save  the  country  ?  We  think  not,  and  we  trust 
that  the  number  v. ill  be  few  who  will  ever  have  occasion  to 
say,  "The  time  once  was,  when  my  co-operation  with  the  re- 
solute few  who  braved  the  storm  of  prejudice,  delusion  and  ava- 
rice, but  were  forced  to  yield  to  the  blast,  might  have  saved  the 
Union." 

The  remarks  of  the  lecturer,  upon  the  objections  raised 
against  the  science  of  political  economy,  upon  the  ground  of 
its  being  metaphysical,  abstract,  and  theoretical,  are  perfectly 
just  and  conclusive  against  the  objectors,  and  will  be  acknow^- 
ledged  so  to  be  by  every  man  who  is  capable  of  comprehend- 
ing the  force  of  a  logical  demonstration.  His  strictures,  too, 
upon  your  anti-theorist,  your  "  practical  man,"  who  believes 
nothing  but  facts,  who  is  so  full  of  the  idea  that  one  fact  is 
2  A* 


282  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

worth  a  thousand  theories,  that  he  is  wholly  incapable  of  desig- 
nating the  cause  which  produces  any  given  effect,  are  altoge- 
ther merited.  And  he  throws  great  light  upon  one  matter 
which  has  been  involved  in  partial  obscurity,  and  that  is,  the 
cause  of  the  perseverance  in  error  of  those  who  possess  minds 
capable  of  perceiving  the  truth.  He  says :  "  All  men  are  slow 
to  alter  the  opinions  in  which  they  have  been  educated,  and 
which  have  been,  as  it  were,  interwoven  into  their  general 
system  of  thinking,  and  intimately  associated,  perhaps,  with 
many  other  favourite  doctrines ;  and  such  alteration  is  more  es- 
pecially difficult,  if  the  individual  have,  in  mature  or  advanced 
life,  committed  himself  before  the  public  in  support  of  his  opi- 
nions." There  is,  however,  one  other  principle,  as  potent  as 
the  one  he  has  mentioned,  not  merely  in  retaining  men  in  er- 
ror, but  in  inducing  them  to  desert  the  truth,  and  to  embrace 
error,  and  that  is  self-interest.  This  powerful  stimulant  lies,  in 
this  country,  at  the  root  of  the  evil,  the  existence  of  which  all 
men  of  sound  political  views  cannot  but  deplore.  No  sooner 
does  a  politician,  a  lawyer,  or  even  a  merchant,  become  a 
stockholder  in  a  manufacturing  corporation,  or  a  co-partner  in 
some  cotton,  or  woollen,  or  iron  establishment,  than  a  new 
light  breaks  in  upon  him,  and  he  falls  to  work  to  conjure  up  a 
string  of  sophisms  by  which  he  may  persuade  himself,  which 
he  finds  little  difficulty  in  doing,  that  truth  is  error,  and  that 
error  is  truth.  The  same  thing  happens  with  those  whose  self- 
ish views  run  in  a  vein  of  political  ambition.  If  they  wish  to 
be  elected  to  public  stations,  or  to  receive  appointments  from 
those  who  are  already  placed  there,  they  straightway  reason 
themselves  into  the  belief  that  white  is  black,  and  that  black  is 
white,  and  they  all  appear  to  adopt  the  creed  that  there  is  no 
such  thing  as  truth — that  that  only  is  truth,  to  any  particular 
man,  which  appears  to  him,  for  the  time  being,  to  be  such. 

To  conclude :  Professor  Vethake  asserts,  what  is  perfectly 
true,  that  the  truths  of  political  economy,  are  in  accordance 
with  the  truths  of  Christianity.  The  principles  of  free  trade 
are  the  precepts  of  the  most  unbounded  ]-hilanthropy.  We 
consider  the  lecture  as  a  harbinger  of  good.  The  reputation 
of  the  Professor,  for  deep  erudition  in  the  mathematics,  is  ex- 
tensive, and  the  influence  of  his  name,  in  connection  with  this 
lecture,  cannot  fail  to  produce  an  accession  of  strength  and 
numbers  to  our  cause. 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  283 

ESSAY   No.    LXXXVIII. 

MARCH    9,    1831. 

Impossibility  of  preventing  smuggling.  Extent  to  which  .it  is 
carried  on  in  Europe.  Honourable  conduct  of  the  people  of 
the  South  in  not  resorting  to  it  as  a  means  of  redress, 

IN  a  country  situated  like  the  United  States,  with  a  sea-coast 
of  near  two  thousand  miles  in  extent,  and  separated  from  a 
foreign  territory  for  perhaps  a  thousand  miles  more,  by  lakes 
and  rivers,  and  a  mere  geographical  line,  it  is  almost  as  physi- 
cally impossible  to  prevent  smuggling,  as  it  would  be  to  shut 
out  the  tides  of  the  ocean.  This  proposition  must  be  self-evi- 
dent, and  it  is  therefore  clear,  that  the  only  protection  which 
exists  against  the  general  introduction  of  contraband  trade,  is 
to  be  found  in  the  moral  sense  of  the  people.  That  moral 
sense,  however,  with  nine  persons  out  of  ten,  has  its  price. 
Very  few,  perhaps,  would  be  willing  to  sell  it  for  a  profit  of  fif- 
teen per  centum,  but,  when  the  inducement  held  out  is  thirty, 
fifty,  or  one  hundred  per  centum,  there  are  few,  we  apprehend, 
who  would  refuse  to  part  with  it.  In  forming  our  opinion  on 
this  subject,  we  must  not  suffer  ourselves  to  be  blinded  by  too 
high  an  estimate  of  the  moral  character  of  our  own  people. 
We  must  look  to  the  broad  school  of  experience  in  other  coun- 
tries, where  high  duties  and  prohibitions  have  been  long  fami- 
liar, and  see  how  they  operate  there,  and  if  we  find  that  all 
over  the  world,  smuggling  is  connived  at,  or  directly  sanction- 
ed, by  the  great  body  of  the  people,  ice  should  hardly  expect 
to  form  an  exception  to  so  general  a  rule.  Nay,  let  the  ques- 
tion be  asked,  what  proportion  of  our  citizens  would  buy  a 
yard  of  cloth  at  seven  dollars,  from  a  merchant's  store,  if  he 
could  buy  one,  next  door  to  him,  of  the  same  quality,  for  six 
dollars,  even  though  there  might  be  strong  reasons  for  suspect- 
ing that  the  latter  had  been  brought  into  the  country  by  smug- 
gling ?  Would  the  great  mass  of  the  people  ever  think  it  in- 
cumbent on  them,  if  a  grocer  should  ofler  to  sell  sugar  at  five 
dollars  a  hundred,  whilst  others  asked  six  or  seven  dollars  for 
the  same  quality,  to  enquire  whether  it  was  smuggled  or  not  ? 
We  apprehend  that  an  answer  will  be  given,  to  both  these 
questions,  by  no  means  calculated  to  inspire  a  belief  in  the  ex- 
istence of  any  such  moral  feeling  as  would  operate  as  a  check 
upon  the  industry  of  smugglers,  and  this,  after  all,  is  the  main 
element  in  this  branch  of  business.  If  people  of  respectability 
and  character  have  no  qualms  of  conscience  to  urge  them  to 
withhold  purchases  where  a  suspicion  exists,  there  will  be  no 
lack  of  enterprising  rogues  to  meet  their  demands. 

We  have  lately  made  some  inquiries  on  this  subject,  from 


284  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

persons  who  have  travelled  in  Great  Britain  and  on  the  Con- 
tinent of  Europe,  and  their  testimony  has  satisfied  us,  that,  in 
the  intercourse  between  P^rance  and  England,  every  thing  is 
smuggled,  by  travellers,  that  can  possibly  be  concealed.  Peo- 
ple that  would  not  for  the  world  defraud  an  individual  out  of 
six  pence,  have  no  hesitation  in  pocketing  six  pounds  which 
ought  by  law  to  go  into  the  public  treasury.  And,  not  only 
does  this  practice  extend  to  the  inferior  and  middling  classes  of 
people,  to  whom  the  saving  is  an  object  in  a  pecuniary  point 
of  view,  but  to  people  of  the  highest  rank  and  fortune.  Even 
ladies,  in  crossing  the  channel,  are  in  the  habit  of  concealing 
upon  their  persons,  laces,  jewelry,  and  articles  of  valuable 
clothing,  and,  what  is  the  worst  of  it,  no  stigma  of  disgrace  is 
attached  to  such  a  transaction,  and,  in  the  politest  circles  of 
society,  the  illicit  introduction  of  foreign  goods  is  spoken  of  by 
them  without  any  reserve,  or  the  slightest  sense  of  their  hav- 
ing been  guilty  of  a  dishonest  act.  Such  is  the  inevitable  ef- 
fect of  a  long  perseverance  in  tempting  duties ;  and  the  mis- 
fortune of  it  is,  that,  after  the  moral  sense  has  once  been  bro- 
ken down,  by  a  duty  of  fifty  per  centum,  it  cannot  be  raised 
again  by  a  return  to  low  duties.  It  is  precisely  like  the  taste 
for  liquors.  Had  the  duties  on  wines  and  foreign  brandy  and 
spirits  been  kept  at  a  low  rate,  tens  of  thousands,  who  are  now 
drunkards  upon  cheap  whiskey,  would  have  remained  to  this 
day  temperate  drinkers  of  the  former,  from  which  they  were 
driven  by  the  high  price  occasioned  by  the  duty. 

A  writer  in  one  of  the  New  York  papers,  in  an  article  which 
we  lately  saw  quoted  in  the  National  Gazette,  asserts,  that 
there  are  now  persons  in  England  who  will  undertake  for  fif- 
teen per  centum,  to  ensure  the  safe  arrival  of  goods  at  certain 
points  of  the  United  States,  free  of  duty.  We  think  this  quite 
probable.  A  gentleman  lately  from  England  has  assured  us 
that  goods  can  be  insured  from  London  to  Paris,  by  the  way 
of  Ostend,  against  all  the  risks  attendant  upon  smuggling,  for 
seven  and  a  half  per  centum.  All  through  South  America  and 
the  West  Indies  smuggling  is  carried  on  upon  a  most  extensive 
scale,  and  it  is  known  to  everybody,  is  practised  by  almost  eve- 
body,  and  excites  no  compunctions,  except  those  which  arise 
from  the  fear  of  detection.  Old  Don  John,  of  Portugal,  when 
in  Brazil,  used  to  say  that  he  knew  he  did  not  get  above  one 
half  his  revenue,  but  he  said  he  should  gain  nothing  by  clearing 
all  the  rogues  out  of  the  custom-house,  for  that  their  places 
v/ould  be  supplied  by  a  hungry  set,  who  would  not  be  content 
with  a  half 

Now,  when  we  reflect  that  the  duties  in  most  other  coun- 
tries are  not  as  high  as  they  are  in  this,  and  that  their  facilities 
of  detection  are  greater  than  ours,  owing  to  more  limitedter- 
ritory,  a  more  dense  population,  and  greater  experience,  how 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  285 

can  we  expect  to  remain  free  from  contamination  ?  Our  cus- 
tom-house officers  may  not  become  corrupt,  but  our  border  in- 
habitants, being  driven  from  honest  pursuits  by  laws  restricting 
their  industry,  will  assuredly  not  long  remain  pure.  And  here 
we  cannot  withhold  a  tribute  of  respect  to  the  high-minded 
and  honourable  conduct  of  the  people  of  the  Southern  states, 
who,  having  at  their  disposal  the  means  of  destroying  the  for- 
ced manufacturing  interests  of  the  North,  by  a  process  which  in 
sOme  other  countries  would  have  been  resorted  to  without  hesi- 
tation, have  spurned  at  the  idea  of  accomplishing  their  emanci- 
pation from  the  burdensome  system  by  which  they  are  oppress- 
ed, by  ignoble  means.  Yes,  it  may  be  asserted,  without  dan- 
ger of  contradiction,  that  there  are  people  in  other  countries, 
if  not  in  our  own,  who.  had  their  interests  been  lawlessly  tram- 
pled upon,  as  have  been  those  of  the  planting  states,  would, 
instead  of  securing  redress  by  a  manly  contest  for  their  rights, 
very  soon  have  settled  the  question,  by  the  simple  operation  of 
shutting  their  eyes,  along  the  sea-coast,  to  the  illicit  introduc- 
tion of  foreign  goods,  brought  to  their  doors,  by  their  fellow-ci- 
tizens of  other  States  perhaps,  in  the  same  manner  that  goods 
are  now  brought  from  Canada.  For  their  conduct  in  this  par- 
ticular, they  merit,  and  will  receive,  the  applause  of  every  ho- 
nest man ;  and,  if  those  whose  interests  have  been  preserved 
by  this  observance  of  an  honourable  line  of  conduct,  possessed 
half  the  magnanimity  which  has  been  thus  displayed,  they 
would  unite  in  doing  homage  to  Southern  virtue,  and  express 
their  gratitude  by  returning  to  the  paths  of  justice  and  the 
Constitution. 


ESSAY   No.  L XXX IX. 

MARCH   9,   1831. 


Remarhs  on  a  passage  in  Mr.  Mallary^s  report,  declaring  that 
we  can  manvfacture  cottons  as  cheap  as  the  British.  This 
fosition  refuted.  Cost  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  of 
supporting  the  cotton  manufacture. 

MR.  MALLARY  in  his  late  report  in  favour  of  the  Prohibi- 
tory System,  has  introduced  the  following  passage : 

"  But,  suppose  the  protecting  duty  withdrawn,  and  the  Ame- 
rican manufacturer  left  to  compete  with  foreign  labour  on  equal 
terms.  Admit  the  cottons  of  India,  England,  and  Scotland,  and 
what  would  be  the  effect  I  Within  two  years,  not  a  single  cot- 
ton-mill in  the  United  States  would  be  in  motion.  The  immense 
capital  invested  in  them,  amounting  to  many  millions,  would  be 


286  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

utterly  sunk  to  the  country,  and  their  owners  irretrievably 
ruined.  And  why  1  JYot  because  we  cannot  make  the  goods  as 
cheap  as  in  Manchester  or  Glasgow,  but  because  a  war 
would  be  waged,  by  British  capital,  against  American  capital 
— a  war  of  extermination.  Such  a  war  has  been  waged  up- 
on every  article  of  American  industry,  wherever  the  protect- 
ing duty  has  been  inade({uate,  or  the  law  extending  the  duty  so 
framed  that  mercantile  cupidity,  and  the  cunning  of  foreign 
manufacturers,  could  evade  it." 

This  sort  of  logic  has  been  at  all  tinfies  much  relied  upon  by 
the  tarifi' party,  but,  as  it  has  heretofore  seldom  appeared,  ex- 
cept in  the  silly  effusions  of  the  political  arithmeticians  who 
know  nothing  of  political  economy,  we  have  scarcely  deemed 
it  worth  the  trouble  of  refutation.  Being  now  presented  to  us, 
however,  in  a  grave  state  paper,  intended  to  set  forth  the  creed 
of  the  American  System  as  we  are  to  have  it  in  case  of  the 
election  of  Mr.  Clay,  it  ought  not  to  be  passed  without  some 
special  notice. 

The  position  we  understand  to  mean,  that,  although  we  can 
now  manufacture  cotton  goods  in  this  country  as  cheap  as  in 
Manchester  or  Glasgow,  which  the  committee  undertake  to 
prove,  in  a  previous  part  of  their  report,  by  the  assertion  that 
"  large  exportations  of  them  are  made  to  foreign  countries : 
they  are  carried  to  India,  China,  and  South  America,  where 
they  are  sold  to  advantage," — yet,  the  removal  of  the  duty 
would  lead  to  such  immense  importations,  owing  to  the  readi- 
ness of  the  foreign  manufacturers  to  sell  their  goods^r  less  than 
cost,  that  our  mills  would  not  be  able  to  carry  on  their  opera- 
tions. Let  us  now  examine  this  position,  and  see  to  what  it 
would  lead. 

The  quantity  of  cotton  annually  manufactured  in  the  United 
States  is,  according  to  the  broadest  estimate,  200,000  bales,  of 
300  pounds  each,  making  00,000,000  pounds.  Assuming  the 
quantity  of  cloth  manufactured  from  each  pound  of  cotton  at 
four  yards,  we  shall  have  240,000,000  yards,  equal  to  twenty 
yards  a  head  upon  our  whole  population.  Now,  whatever  may 
be  the  average  price  per  yard  at  which  these  fabrics  are  pro- 
duced, it  is  evident  that  an  equal  quantity  of  similar  products 
could  not  be  imported  from  abroad,  without  incurring  the  ex- 
penses of  freight,  insurance,  commissions,  packages,  porterage, 
and  other  charges,  from  which  the  American  fabric  would  be 
exempt.  We  think  that  one  cent  per  yard  would  be  a  low  es- 
timate for  these  increased  expenses,  and,  if  that  position  be 
granted,  it  will  follow,  that,  in  order  to  enable  the  foreign  ma- 
nufacturers to  enter  our  market  upon  equal  ter?ns  with  the  Ame- 
rican, they  must  agree  to  lose,  at  the  very  start,  one  cent  a 
yard,  which,  upon  goods  costing  from  5  to  10  cents  per  yard, 
would  be  from  20  to  10  per  centum,  making  an  average  of  15 


OF    FREE    TRADE,  287 

per  centum.  But  it  must  be  recollected  that  this  loss  of  15  per 
centum  would  not  of  itself  answer  the  purpose  of  breaking 
down  the  American  manufacture.  The  American  manufactur- 
er would  still  be  able  to  stand  his  ground  :  for,  even  with  this 
loss  on  his  shoulders,  the  foreign  manufacturer  would  not  be 
able  to  undersell  the  American.  He  would  be  merely  able  to 
sell  at  the  same  price,  and,  as  such  a  trade  would  be  a  sense- 
less one,  promising  a  certain  present  loss,  without  the  prospect 
of  any  eventual  gain,  it  certainly  could  not  long  be  continued. 
No  manufacturer  in  the  world  would  be  such  a  numbskull  as  to 
send  goods  abroad  for  the  purpose  of  selling  them  at  the  price 
he  could  get  for  them  at  home,  sinking,  without  an  equivalent, 
all  the  expenses  of  the  voyage,  and  even  incurring  the  risk, 
well  known  to  British  manufacturers,  of  never  getting  paid  for 
them  at  all. 

But  we  think  we  can  hear  Mr.  Mallary  say,  "  Aye,  but  the 
foreign  manufacturer  will  not  be  content  to  lose  one  cent  a 
yard ;  he  will  consent  to  lose  two,  or  three,  or  four,  or  five, 
rather  than  not  succeed  in  breaking  down  the  rival  manufac- 
ture." Very  well — let  us  examine  this  position  also.  The  loss 
of  an  additional  cent  per  yard  would  amount  to  15  per  centum 
more,  making  the  whole  loss  30  per  centum.  But  would  a  re- 
duction in  the  price  of  cotton  fabrics,  of  one  cent  a  yard,  which 
could  only  take  place  by  a  sacrifice,  on  the  part  of  the  foreign 
manufacturer,  equal  to  30  per  centum  upon  his  invoice,  have 
the  eliect  of  stopping  all  our  cotton  mills  1  Would  a  reduction 
of  two  cents  a  yard  do  it  1  It  might  certainly  stop  some  of 
those  in  the  middle  states,  where  skill  and  economy  are  not  so 
far  advanced  as  in  some  other  quarters,  but  in  New  England 
it  would  probably  not  stop  one.  Would  a  reduction  of  three 
cents  a  yard  do  it  1  For  the  sake  of  argument,  we  will  suppose 
that  it  would.  We  will  suppose,  that,  if  all  our  manufactur- 
ers were  obliged,  by  foreign  competition,  to  sell  their  fabrics 
at  three  cents  per  yard  less  than  they  now  procure,  it  would  be 
unprofitable  for  them  to  manufacture  any  more.  This,  then, 
we  will  suppose  to  be  the  extent  of  the  sacrifice  called  for,  on 
the  part  of  the  foreign  manufacturers,  to  enable  them  to  stop 
all  our  cotton  mills.  And  how  much  will  it  amount  to  per 
annum  ?  Why,  precisely  four  cents  per  yard  upon  240,000,000 
yards — that  is  $9,600,000,  or  60  per  centum  upon  the  invoice 
cost. 

Now,  can  any  man  believe  that  any  set  of  manufacturers 
would  be  so  regardless  of  their  interests,  as  to  give  away,  /or 
nothing,  more  than  one-half  their  property,  in  order  to  induce 
others  to  purchase  the  residue  at  a  mere  remunerating  price  ? 
Human  nature,  and  even  human  folly,  great  as  it  sometimes  is, 
can  furnish  no  foundation  for  such  a  belief.  If,  however,  Mr. 
Mallary  thinks  that  the  foreign  manufacturers  would  be  guilty 


288  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

of  such  stupidity,  it  must  be  because  they  would  expect  some 
eventual  benefit.  He  perhaps  supposes,  that,  after  the  Ameri- 
can mills  had  been  stopped,  the  foreigners  would  raise  their 
price.  Very  well,  let  us  suppose  they  do.  If  they  raise  it  one 
cent  a  yard,  the  New  England  cotton-mills  will  again  go  into 
operation.  H  they  raise  it  two  cents,  those  of  the  middle 
States  will  again  go  into  operation.  And,  if  they  raise  it  three 
'cents,  the  old  price  and  customary  profits  will  again  be  restor- 
ed, and  the  foreigners  would  find  that  they  were  no  better  off 
than  when  they  began ;  but  on  the  contrary,  if  they  continued 
their  "  war  of  extermination,''^  {^self-extermination  it  should  have 
been,)  for  two  years  only,  they  would  be  nearly  twenty  millions 
of  dollars  out  of  pocket,which  by  no  possible  contrivance  could 
ever  be  regained. 

In  order  to  give  the  slightest  pretensions  to  soundness  to  the 
position  we  are  combating,  it  ought  to  be  shown,  that,  when 
the  cotton-mills  are  stopped  their  value  is  annihilated,  the  same 
as  if  they  were  burnt  to  the  ground,  or  swallowed  up  by  an 
earthquake.  But  this  is  not  the  case.  They  are  merely  shut 
up,  and,  although  they  may  sustain  some  injury  from  rust  and 
want  of  use,  the  loss,  besides,  which  is  sustained  by  the  com- 
munity, is  only  equal  to  the  interest  of  the  capital  invested, 
which  is  a  mere  trifle,  compared  to  the  advantages  the  com- 
munity would  have  gained  by  procuring  their  supply  of  cotton 
fabrics  at  a  diminished  cost  of  three  cents  per  yard.  Supposing 
the  whole  value,  in  the  United  States,  invested  in  buildings  and 
machinery  applied  to  the  cotton  manufacture,  to  be  equal  to 
ten  millions  of  dollars,  (which  would  pay  for  five  hundred  at 
$20,000  a  piece,)  the  annual  loss,  by  their  being  suspended, 
would  be  equal  to  but  600,000  dollars — whereas  the  gain  to  the 
community,  in  getting  240,000,000  yards  of  cloth,  at  three  cents 
per  yard  less  than  cost,  would  amount  to  $7^200,000. 

But  here  we  shall  be  told,  that  the  labour  of  50,000  people, 
employed  in  the  cotton  manufacture,  would  be  lost  to  the  coun- 
try. But  would  that  be  the  case  ?  Could  not  all  those  persons 
find  employment  in  agriculture,  or  some  other  pursuit,  if  they 
would  consent  to  work  at  less  wages  than  they  now  receive  at 
the  cotton-mills  ?  We  can  have  no  doubt  of  it ;  but,  as  we  have 
to  deal  with  a  class  of  reasoners  who  admit  nothing  but  what 
favours  their  determination  to  hold  on  to  the  American  System, 
we  are  obliged  to  argue  with  them  on  their  own  ground.  And 
we  therefore  contend,  that,  even  should  there  have  been  a  to- 
tal loss  to  the  country  of  the  entire  labour  of  these  50,000  per- 
sons, the  community  would  still  have  been  gainers — and  we 
prove  it  thus : 

The  advantage  gained  by  a  reduction  of  three  cents  per  yard, 
on  240,000,000  vards  of  cotton  cloth,  w^ould  be      $7,200,000 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  289 


Deduct  the  interest  on  capital  invested  in  idle 
buildings  and  machinery,         -         -       600,000 

Also  possible  injury  sustained  by  want 
of  use, 600,000 

Also  the  value  of  the  labour  of  50,000 
men,  and  children,  at  $  100  each  per  ann. 
upon  an  average,  ...    5,000,000 


$0,200,000 


Leaving  a  clear  gain  of  -         -         .         -       $1,000,000 

At  this  stage  of  the  argument  we  shall  probably  be  stopped 
by  another  position,  which  was  once  gravely  put  forth  by  Pro- 
fessor List,  viz.,  that  it  is  no  advantage  to  a  country  to  get 
goods  cheap  from  abroad.  That  profound  reasoner  asserted, 
in  a  Lecture  dehvered  at  Harrisburg,  that  it  was  a  great  evil 
to  a  country  to  import  cheap  goods,  which  could  be  manufac- 
tured at  home.  This  doctrine,  carried  out  to  its  full  extent, 
maintains  that  half  a  loaf  is  better  than  a  whole  one,  that  one 
pound  of  sugar  is  better  than  two,  that  a  roundabout  jacket  is 
better  than  a  long  coat,  and  half  a  cord  of  wood,  of  a  cold  day, 
is  better  than  a  whole  one,  that  a  great  coat  is  better  than  a 
great  coat  and  cloak  besides.  To  combat  such  nonsense  by 
serious  argument,  is  enough  to  try  the  patience  of  a  saint,  and 
we  must  therefore  leave  it  for  others  who  have  more  of  that 
virtue  than  we  possess. 

It  would  seem  that  those  who  believe  that  the  foreign  ma- 
nufacturers are  ready  to  make  sacrifices  to  any  extent  to  ruin 
our  manufacturers,  have  never  given  themselves  the  trouble  to 
think  who  was  to  bear  the  loss.  Some  pretend  that  the  British 
Government  would  bear  it.  It  would  perhaps  be  difficult  to 
persuade  a  certain  class  of  people  that  this  was  not  the  case. 
There  are  some  editors  in  this  country  who  profess  to  believe 
that  the  British  Government  employ  people  to  set  fire  to  our 
manufacturing  establishments,  and  to  kill  our  sheep.  With 
such  people  it  would  be  vain  to  argue :  the  question  with  them 
is  not  one  of  reason,  but  of  passion — and, 

"  Convince  a  man  against  his  will, 
"  He's  of  the  same  opinion  still." 

We  think  it  much  more  likely  that  the  British  Government,  if 
it  were  to  interfere  at  all  in  forcing  the  manufactures  of  private 
individuals  into  this  country,  would  do  it  by  aflbrding  facilities  to 
the  trade  with  Canada,  with  the  view  of  aiding  their  clandes- 
tine introduction  through  that  channel ;  but  we  think  no  man 
can  seriously  believe,  that,  loaded  as  Great  Britain  is  with 
debt  and  taxes,  her  government  would  undertake  to  pay  the 
losses  of  individual  manufacturers,  in  enterprizes  which  could 
2B 


290 


ESSAYS    ON    THE     PRINCIPLES 


not  possibly  now  or  hereafter  eventuate  in  benefit.  If  cotton- 
mills  were  like  oak  trees,  which  require  a  century  to  replace 
them,  and  if  acorns  were  a  valuable  nut,  there  might  be  some 
ground  for  apprehending  the  agency  of  some  foreign  rival  in 
destroying  the  existing  forests.  But,  in  regard  to  cotton  facto- 
ries, a  couple  of  years  would  suffice  to  replace  all  there  is  in 
this  country,  even  if  they  were  to  be  destroyed,  and  not  merely 
suspended.  If,  then,  the  British  Government  is  not  likely  to 
raise  the  annual  fund  of  $9,000,000,  requisite  to  suspend  one 
single  branch  only  of  our  industry,  who  will  do  it  1  The  manu- 
facturers. What  manufacturers  ?  Those  who  expect  the  benefit. 
But  what  benefit  l  None  can  ever  accrue  to  them :  for  the 
most  they  can  expect,  in  return  for  so  enormous  a  sacrifice, 
would  be,  to  raise  the  price  again  to  the  old  rate.  As  for  rais- 
ing it  higher,  as  many,  who  think  only  skin-deep  suppose,  it 
would  be  impossible.  If  manufacturing  is  profitable  in  the  United 
States  at  present  prices,  an  increase  of  one  cent  a  yard  would 
only  draw  fresh  capital  into  manufactures,  and  down  would 
come  the  price  again  to  the  general  level  of  profits. 

But,  even  supposing  that  our  manufacturers  were  not  to  reco- 
ver, the  price  could  never  be  raised,  abroad,  to  any  point  high- 
er than  the  one  which  existed  at  the  time  of  the  commence- 
ment of  the  "  war  of  extermination."  For,  the  very  moment 
that  the  manufacturers  who  made  the  sacrifice  should  begin  to 
charge  higher  prices,  others,  who  shared  no  part  of  the  loss, 
would  step  in  with  their  competition,  and  prevent  it.  In  so 
large  a  community  as  that  of  Great  Britain,  combinations  of 
manufacturers  are  impossible.  Competition  operates  with  its 
full  force,  and  a  knowledge  of  this  fact  is  of  itself  sufficient  to 
prevent  any  one  class  of  individuals  from  embarking  in  a  sacri- 
fice, the  benefits  of  which,  if  any  accrue,  will  be  just  as  ac- 
cessible to  others  as  to  themselves. 

The  more  we  have  looked  at  this  subject,  the  more  are  we 
convinced  that  this  doctrine  of  foreign  sacrifices,  to  keep  down 
our  manufactures,  is  altogether  destitute  of  sound  reason  to 
support  it.  Great  sacrifices  are  sometimes  made  by  the  casu- 
alties of  commerce,  but  in  no  instance,  we  believe,  could  Mr. 
Mallary  lay  his  hand  on  one,  and  show  that  the  loss  was  fore- 
seen at  the  time  of  shipment. 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  291 

ESSAY     No.   XC. 

BIARCH  16,  1831. 

The  Salt  duty.  Remarks  on  the  speech  of  Mr.  Maxwell  in  Con- 
gress. Congress  not  pledged  to  sustain  the  vested  interests 
of  the  few,  at  the  expense  of  the  interests  of  the  many. 

MR.  MAXWELL  of  Virginia,  in  his  remarks  on  the  subject 
of  the  salt  duty,  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  used  the  fol- 
lowing language : 

"  The  amount  of  capital  vested  in  the  manufacture  of  salt,  in 
the  United  States,  is  not  less  than  $7,000,000,  which,  together 
with  the  difficulty  experienced  by  the  people  of  this  country, 
during  the  last  war,  in  obtaining  the  article,  ought  to  admonish 
every  one  of  the  importance  of  having  full  information  upon  the 
subject,  and  of  the  propriety  of  legislating  cautiously,  lest  the 
manufacturer  of  American  salt  be  injured,  and,  in  case  of  a 
war  with  a  foreign  nation,  the  same  consequences  result  that 
have  heretofore  taken  place." 

There  is  no  greater  error  prevailing,  on  the  subject  of  politi- 
cal economy,  than  in  reference  to  what  are  called  vested  inter- 
ests. There  are  some  people  w-ho  think,  that,  because  capi- 
tal has  been  invested  in  particular  branches  of  business,  the 
world  is  to  remain  stationary,  and  not  to  go  on  in  the  march 
of  improvement,  because  it  may  injure  the  interests  of  those 
who  are  engaged  in  them.  This  is  all  idle  talk.  Every  man 
who  embarks  in  an  enterprize,  under  a  government  like  ours, 
where  the  laws  are  liable  to  perpetual  changes,  does  so  with  a 
full  knowledge  of  the  risk  he  incurs.  As  to  the  idea  of  pledges, 
by  the  government,  that  particular  duties  wall  be  adhered  to, 
whether  revenue  is  wanted  or  not,  it  is  sheer  nonsense,  and  is 
entitled  to  no  more  consideration,  than  would  be  an  argument 
against  changing  the  seat  of  justice  in  a  county,  if  called  for 
by  the  interests  of  the  inhabitants.  The  owners  of  the  tavern, 
store,  and  blacksmith's  shop,  in  the  county-town,  would  no 
doubt  think  it  unjust  and  cruel,  and  they  would  probably  urge 
that,  when  they  put  up  their  buildings,  they  considered  the  le- 
gislature to  be  solemnly  pledged  never  to  injure  their  property 
by  removing  the  court  house  and  jail.  But  w?hat  would  be  the 
answer  of  the  jurors  and  suitors  ?  "  The  greatest  good  of  the 
greatest  number  is  to  be  consulted.  Our  aggregate  loss,  if  we 
indulge  you,  will  be  greater  than  your  aggregate  loss  if  we  do 
not,  and  this  is  the  question  which  is  to  determine  the  expedien- 
cy of  the  removal." 

This,  in  fact,  ig  the  true  proposition  which  is  to  determine 
all  questions  of  vested  interests,  where  there  has  not  been  a 
solemn  guarantee,  for  a  term  of  years,  by  charter ;  and  the 


292  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

expediency  of  a  change  must  be  determined  by  an  account- 
current,  placing  on  the  debit  side  the  loss  to  be  sustained  by  the 
vested  interests,  and  on  the  credit  side  the  gain  of  tiie  pubHc. 
Now  let  us  examine  this  salt  cjuestion  by  this  rule. 

Mr.  Maxwell  supposes  that  the  total  value  of  the  capital  in- 
vested in  vSalt- works  is  $7,000,000.  Oi  this  amount,  if  it  be 
correct,  and  we  have  no  means  of  confirming  or  disproving  it, 
a  part  has  been  expended  in  boring  for  salt-springs,  in  digging 
wells,  and  in  constructing  buildings,  vats,  and  other  necessary 
works.  But  a  large  portion  of  it  must  consist  of  the  circulat- 
ing capital  employed  by  the  proprietors,  and  which  exists  in 
the  form  of  salt,  or  money,  or  promissory  notes  from  purcha- 
sers, or  book-debts.  Whatever  portion  that  amount  may  be, 
a  gradual  reduction  of  the  duty  could  not  in  any  event  greatly 
diminish  it;  and,  therefore,  when  the  annihilation  of  capital  is 
spoken  of,  that  part  which  is  circulating,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered, does  not  experience  so  great  a  depression  as  that  part 
which  is  fixed,  and  which  cannot  be  applied  to  any  other  pur- 
pose. 

We  shall  not,  however,  in  this  argument,  take  advantage  of 
this  difference,  but  will  undertake  to  prove,  that,  even  if  the 
removal  of  the  entire  duty  on  salt  were  to  be  attended  with 
the  absolute  annihilation  of  all  the  salt-works,  and  the  whole 
capital  of  $7,000,000,  it  would  be  a  sacrifice  from  which  more 
would  be  gained  than  lost.     And  we  prove  it  thus  : 

The  loss  to  the  country,  from  the  destruction  of  property 
worth  $7,000,000,  is  equal  to  $420,000  per  annum,  that  being 
the  interest  of  the  former  sum,  at  six  per  centum,  and  that  being 
a  fair  equivalent  for  the  use  of  capital.  The  quantity  of  salt 
manufactured  in  the  United  States  is  estimated,  we  believe,  at 
somewhere  about  4,.500,000  bushels,  of  56  pounds.  The  in- 
creased price,  upon  this  quantity,  of  15  cents  per  bushel,  occa- 
sioned by  the  duty,  operates  as  a  loss,  to  the  consumers  of  salt, 
of  $675,000  per  annum.  In  other  words,  were  it  not  for  the 
duty  on  salt,  its  price  would  be  675,000  dollars  per  annum  less 
than  it  now  is ;  and,  as  this  sum  is  greater  than  the  loss  that 
would  be  sustained  by  the  entire  sinking  of  $7,000,000,  the 
result  shows  a  clear  gain  to  the  community  of  $255,000  per 
annum. 

In  this  statement  we  have  left  entirely  out  of  view  the  addi- 
tional saving  which  would  result  to  the  community,  by  the  abo- 
lition of  the  duty  on  salt,  in  the  reduction  in  the  price  of  near 
6,000,000  bushels  of  foreign  salt,  now  imported,  and  which 
would  amount  to  1,200,000  more.  We  have  also  left  out  of 
view  the  saving  to  the  country  of  a  large  quantity  of  provisions 
which  are  annually  spoiled  from  a  deficiency  of  salt,  particu- 
larly in  the  western  country,  where  the  duty  on  salt  adds  so 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  293 

much  to  its  price,  that  an  inadequate  quantity  is  very  often 
used. 

We  are,  however,  far  from  beHeving  that  the  removal  of  the 
entire  duty  on  salt  would  have  the  effect  of  breaking  up  its  do- 
mestic manufacture.  Salt  can  be  made  at  the  New  York  works, 
at  Salina,  at  twelve  cents  per  bushel,  were  it  not  for  the  state 
tax,  imposed  upon  its  production,  of  twelve  and  a  half  cents. 
With  this  salt  no  foreign  salt  can  possibly  come  into  competi- 
tion. As  to  the  works  in  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  and  other 
parts  of  the  western  country,  the  distance  from  the  seaboard 
operates  as  a  natural'protection  ;  and,  although  the  rents  of  the 
landlords,  the  profits  of  the  manufacturers,  and  the  wages  of 
their  labourers,  would  be  reduced,  yet  we  think  it  not  at  all 
likely  that  any  but  those  of  the  weakest  brine  would  be  aban- 
doned. On  the  seacoast  the  case  is  different.  Where  nothing 
stronger  than  the  salt-water  of  the  ocean  is  to  be  had,  the  ma- 
nufacture would  perhaps  not  stand  against  the  competition  of 
foreign  salt,  and  the  works  would  be  abandoned.  But,  in  this 
case,  we  have  shown  that  the  public  would  gain  more  than  it 
would  lose. 

We  think  the  proposition  brought  forward  by  Mr.  Mallary, 
for  repealing  the  law  which  provides  for  the  reduction  of  the 
duty  on  salt  from  15  to  10  cents  per  bushel,  to  take  effect  on 
the  31st  of  December  next,  was  a  highly  injudicious  step  for 
the  manufacturers  of  that  article.  We  had  thought  the  salt 
question  settled  last  winter,  for  some  years  at  least.  We  had 
supposed  that  the  opponents  of  the  Restrictive  System  were 
so  far  satisfied  with  the  reduction  then  agreed  upon,  that  they 
were  not  inclined  to  go  further  with  that  branch  of  industry, 
so  as  to  compel  the  salt  makers  to  be  the  scape-goats  to  bear 
the  sins  of  all  the  rest  of  the  protected  fraternity.  How  far 
that  feeling  of  forbearance  has  been  disturbed  by  the  move- 
ment in  question,  we  cannot  with  certainty  say,  but  we  cannot 
help  thinking,  that,  had  it  not  been  for  Mr.  Mallary's  bill,  the 
idea  of  a  total  repeal  of  the  duty  would  not  have  been  sug- 
gested, unless  in  connection  with  a  very  general  reduction  of 
duties.  Upon  certain  people  no  experience  confers  the  slight- 
est degree  of  wisdom.  "  He  loses  all,  that  grasps  too  much," 
is  as  true  now  as  it  ever  was,  and  we  predict  that  the  day  is 
not  very  distant,  when  the  manufacturers,  who  are  now  weigh- 
ing their  monopolies  against  the  Union,  as  it  were,  in  a  pair  of 
scales,  will  bitterly  deplore  the  high-handed,  uncompromising, 
and  stubborn  course,  which  they  are  now  pursuing,  in  the  vain 
hope  that  they  can  permanently  fix  upon  the  necks  of  the  free- 
men of  this  country  a  yoke  of  oppression  and  injustice,  which 
has  no  sanction  but  in  "their  avarice  and  thirst  of  unlawful  gain. 

And,  whilst  upon  this  subject,  we  take  the  liberty  of  referring 
the  reader  to  an  article  in  another  part  of  our  paper,  copied 
2B* 


294  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

from  the  Susquehannah  Register,  being  the  first  article,  opposed 
to  any  branch  of  the  American  System,  that  we  have  met  with 
for  a  number  of  years,  in  a  Pennsylvania  country  paper.  The 
article  is  sound,  instructive,  and  manly,  and  will,  we  trust,  be 
followed  up  by  others  in  the  same  strain. 


ESSAY    No.    XCI. 


MARCH    16,    1831. 

Probable  course  of  the  restrictive  -party.  Right  of  Congress  to 
lay  protecting  duties  denied.  Should  the  next  session  of 
Congress  pass  without  a  reduction  of  duties,  the  cause  of 
free-trade  will  be  lost.  Great  indifference  of  the  commercial 
cities  upon  the  subject.  We  look  to  the  agriculturists  for  res- 
cue from  the  restrictive  system. 

IN  compliance  with  the  request  contained  in  a  communica- 
tion, published  in  our  paper  of  the  2d  instant,  signed  "  South 
Carolina,"  we  shall  offer  a  few  remarks  on  the  subject  to  which 
it  refers. 

It  is  very  manifest  that  the  monopolists,  who  are  now  enjoy- 
ing the  benefit  of  exorbitant  duties,  under  the  existing  tariff, 
and  the  party  which,  from  ignorance  in  some,  and  political 
ambition  in  others,  supports  them  in  their  injustice,  begin  now 
to  see  the  impossibility,  after  the  extinguishment  of  the  public 
debt,  of  collecting  a  revenue,  from  duties,  of  double  the  amount 
called  for  by  the  constitutional  expenditures  of  the  government. 
They  will,  therefore,  very  naturally  endeavour  to  create  some 
new  demands  upon  the  treasury,  in  order  to  justify  the  conti- 
nuance of  the  present  duties ;  and,  if  they  cannot  accomplish 
this  by  appropriations  for  internal  improvements,  or  for  pur- 
poses of  general  education,  or  for  the  support  of  hospitals  and 
asylums  for  the  deaf,  dumb,  and  blind,  they  will  extend  more 
and  more  the  paternal  arms  of  Congress,  so  as  to  embrace 
every  individual  who  happened  to  hear  the  sound  of  a  drum 
during  the  revolutionary  war.  Indeed  we  see  no  reason 
why,  in  a  short  time,  the  national  sympathies  will  not  be  ap- 
pealed to  for  the  purpose  of  allowing  a  pension  to  the  regular 
soldiers,  volunteers,  and  militia,  who  took  up  arms,  during  the 
war  of  1812,  for  a  thirty  days'  tour  of  duty.  No  class  of  peo- 
ple are  disposed  to  be  so  liberal  to  old  soldiers  as  the  manufac- 
turers ;  for,  as  it  costs  them  nothing  to  be  charitable,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  as  they  pocket  one  dollar  for  every  dollar  raised 
for  the  benefit  of  the  soldiers,  they  can  afford  to  be  the  most 
patriotic  people  of  the  whole  country.     Should  this  scheme 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  295 

fail,  other  propositions  will  be  thought  of,  in  sufficient  abun- 
dance to  create  a  permanent  demand  upon  the  public  coflers 
for  ten  nnillions  of  dollars ;  and  we  are  firmly  persuaded  that, 
rather  than  reduce  the  duties,  persons  could  be  found,  who 
would  readily  consent  to  vote  that  the  amount  of  revenue 
should  be  annually  collected  and  thrown  to  the  bottom  of  the 
ocean. 

In  case  all  these  schemes  should  fail,  and  the  impossibility  of 
keeping  up  the  revenue  to  twenty-two  millions  should  be  seen 
and  acknowledged,  the  next  step  will  be  to  remove  entirely  the 
duties  from  those  articles  which  are  not  at  all,  or  to  a  very  li- 
mited extent,  produced  in  the  country,  such  as  teas,  coffee, 
spices,  wines,  drugs,  tropical  fruits,  China-ware,  and  some 
others,  so  as  to  bring  dov/n  the  revenue  to  twelve  millions  of 
dollars — retaining  all  the  odious  and  oppressive  features  of  the 
syste?n  untouched.  Such  a  course  would  leave  the  body  of  the 
wrong,  against  which  all  the  opposition  has  been  levelled,  pre- 
cisely where  it  now  stands,  and  the  cause  of  liberty  and  the 
Constitution  would  be  found  to  be  no  gainers.  So  far  from 
it,  such  a  course  would,  as  our  correspondent  justly  observes, 
rivet  upon  us  more  firmly  than  ever  the  restrictive  system,  as 
the  settled  policy  of  the  country ;  and  it  behooves  all  who  ad- 
vocate the  doctrines  of  free  trade  to  raise  their  voices  against 
this  scheme,  before  it  be  too  late. 

The  right  of  Congress  to  lay  duties  directly  for  the  protec- 
tion of  manufactures,  has  been  clearly  proved  never  to  have 
been  delegated  to  that  body  by  the  Constitution.  Nor  has  the 
power  to  impose  such  duties,  with  the  design  indirectly  of  ope- 
rating in  favour  of  manufactures,  ever  been  delegated.  Pro- 
tection, it  is  true,  does  result  from  duties,  as  a  necessary  effect 
— and,  when  it  takes  place,  nobody  has  a  right  to  complain; 
but  revenue,  and  revenue  alone,  should  be  the  design  of  the  law. 
Pending  the  debate  in  the  first  Congress,  when  duties  of  from  5  to 
7^  per  centum  were  proposed,  some  of  the  members  urged  the 
selection  of  some  particular  articles  in  preference  to  others, 
upon  the  ground  that  thereby  indirect  protection  would  be  af- 
forded to  manufictures.  And  if  it  were  now  a  c|uestion  in 
Congress,  whether  duties  should  be  5  or  7^  per  centum,  such  an 
arrangement  might  be  permitted  to  operate  as  a  means  of  con* 
ciliation.  The  principle,  however,  is  unsound,  even  in  cases 
where  such  small  duties  as  those  named  are  contemplated. 
The  interests  of  revenue  and  ■protection  arc  adverse  to  each 
other.  Revenue  requires  imports — Protection  requires  prohi- 
bition ;  for  it  is  only  by  prohibition,  to  some  extent,  that  the 
manufacturer  can  be  protected.  If  revenue  alone  were  con- 
sulted, the  duties  would  be  imposed  chielly  on  those  articles, 
the  consumption  of  which  would  throw  the  weight  of  the  taxa- 
tion on  those  who  were  best  able  to  bear  it.     When  protection 


296  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

is  regarded,  this  great  principle  is  lost  sight  of,  and  taxation 
may  be  made  to  lail  upon  those  who  are  least  able  to  bear  it. 
This  truth  is  exemplified  fully  under  our  present  system.  Our 
taxes  are  made  to  fail  most  heavilj^  upon  those  who  are  least 
able  to  bear  them.  Coarse  goods,  worn  by  the  poor  and  work- 
ing classes,  invariably  pay  higher  duties  than  fine  goods,  worn 
by  the  rich,  li'  the  new  scheme  goes  into  eflect,  the  enormity 
of  this  policy  will  be  still  more  apparent.  Many  luxuries  will 
be  entirely  exempt  from  duties,  whilst  the  most  important  neces- 
saries of  life  will  remain  subject  to  the  highest  rates. 

But,  we  doubt  if  any  member  of  the  first  Congress,  had  the 
question  been  put  to  him,  as  it  is  to  us,  this  day — "  Shall  coarse 
woollen  and  cotton  goods  be  burdened  with  a  hundred  per  cent, 
duty,  and  shall  Imperial  tea  and  Madeira  wine  be  admitted  duty 
free  ?" — would  have  sanctioned,  by  his  vote,  such  a  monstrous 
proposition.  It  is  not  possible  to  believe  it — nor  can  we  be- 
lieve that  Congress  has  any  more  right  to  select  the  objects  of 
taxation,  with  any  other  design  than  to  secure  the  greatest  pos- 
sible amount  of  duties  with  the  least  obstruction  to  commerce, 
than  it  has  to  impose  a  duty  on  carriages  with  springs,  for  the 
purpose  of  encouraging  the  manufacture  of  Jersey  wagons. 

Should  the  next  session  of  Congress  pass  over  without  such 
material  reduction,  in  the  duties  of  the  existing  odious  tariff, 
as  will  give  assurance  of  a  return,  after  the  extinguishment  of 
the  public  debt,  to  an  equitable  scale  of  revenue  duties,  the 
cause  of  free  trade  will,  in  our  humble  estimation,  be  forever 
lost.  Our  readers  will  recollect  that  we  have,  ever  since  the 
establishment  of  this  journal,  favoured  the  belief  that  the  public 
mind  North  of  the  Potomac  was  in  a  capacity  of  receiving  the 
truths  of  political  science,  and  that  a  love  for  the  Union  would 
outweigh  all  the  calculations  of  selfish,  local,  and  ambitious 
interests,  and  would  lead  to  such  a  spirit  of  conciliation  as 
could  not  but  eventuate  in  a  settlement  of  the  disputed  ques- 
tions, without  the  further  excitement,  at  the  South,  of  revolu- 
tionary feelings.  It  is,  therefore,  with  reluctance  that  we  now 
feel  ourselves  constrained  to  confess  that  our  faith  in  the  po- 
tency of  argument  and  reason  is  beginning  to  waver.  The 
efforts  making  at  the  South  and  South-west,  to  extricate  the 
country  from  the  trammels  of  the  restrictive  system,  are  not 
supported,  at  the  North,  as  they  should  be ;  and,  strange  as  it 
may  appear,  there  exists  upon  the  subject,  even  amongst  those 
who  depend  for  their  support  upon  foreign  commerce,  an  in- 
difference which  almost  indicates  a  bowing  of  the  neck  to  the 
restrictive  system,  as  the  settled  policy  of  the  country.  If, 
therefore,  the  merchants,  whose  interests  are  most  directly  af- 
fected by  the  anti-commercial  policy,  no  longer  feel  themselves 
identified  with  the  advocates  of  free  trade — if  they  will  neither, 
by  their  intellectual  nor  pecuniary  aid,  contribute  to  the  sup- 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  297 

port  of  the  only  means,  short  of  revolution,  by  which  the  poli- 
cy favourable  to  their  interests  can  be  restored — how  is  it  to 
be  expected,  that  those  who  possess  less  intelligence,  more  li- 
mited means,  and  a  less  direct  interest,  will  do  it  1  That  we 
may  not  be  misunderstood,  we  shall  descend  to  some  particu- 
lars. 

The  city  of  Baltimore  is  a  commercial  city  of  considerable 
extent,  possessing  a  population  of  probably  80,000.  The  ton- 
nage of  Maryland,  chiefly,  as  we  presume,  belonging  to  Bal- 
timore, was,  in  the  year  1826,  registered  62,127  tons,  enroll- 
ed and  hcensed,  90,538 — making  an  aggregate  of  152,665  tons. 
The  imports  of  the  state,  in  that  year,  were  $4,928,569,  and 
the  exports  $4,010,748.  Li  that  cHy  there  is  not  a  single  pa- 
mper, as  far  as  we  can  learn,  that  even  breathes  the  name  of  free 
trade  ! 

The  city  of  Philadelphia  contains  a  population  of  about 
140,000.  The  tonnage  of  Pennsylvania,  all  belonging  to  Phi- 
ladelphia, was,  in  1826,  registered  63,443  tons,  enrolled  and 
licensed  9,242 — making  an  aggregate  of  72,685  tons.  The 
imports,  in  that  year,  were  $13,551,779,  and  the  exports 
$8,331,722.  In  Philadelphia  there  are  seven  daily  and  several 
weekly  newspapers,  and,  amongst  them  all,  there  is  hut  one 
which  ever  ventures  to  publish  an  article  touching  even  upon  the 
hem  of  the  American  System !  Since  the  removal  of  the  Free 
Trade  Advocate  from  Philadelphia,  in  November,  1829,  there 
has  not  been  issued,  from  the  whole  pi'ess  in  Pennsylvania,  as 
much,  against  the  restrictive  policy,  as  is  contained  in  one 
number  of  our  journal. 

The  city  of  New  York  contains  a  population  of  upwards  of 
200,000.  The  tonnage  of  the  state,  almost  wholly  belonging 
to  the  city,  was,  in  1826,  registered  161,452  tons,  enrolled  and 
licensed  156,986 — making  an  aggregate  of  318,438  tons.  The 
imports,  in  that  year,  were  $38,115,630,  and  the  exports 
$21,947,791.  In  this  city  there  are  nine  daily  papers,  of  which 
three  are  favourable  to  free  trade,  and  are  politic^  ly  opposed 
to  the  American  System  candidate  for  the  Presidency.  The 
rest,  with  one  exception,  are  opposed  to  the  present  adminis- 
tration, and  if  they  are  in  favour  of  free  trade  they  touch  upon 
it  so  hghtly,  that,  from  the  complexion  of  their  columns,  one  is 
led  to  believe  that  most  of  them  would  prefer  their  favourite 
candidate  and  the  American  System,  to  his  defeat  and  free 
trade. 

The  city  of  Boston  contains  a  population  of  upwards  of 
60,000.  The  tonnage  of  Massachusetts  was,  in  1826,  regis- 
tered 183,177  tons,  enrolled  and  licensed  164,980 — making  an 
aggregate  of  348,157  tons;  but  what  proportion  of  it  belong- 
ed to  Boston  we  are  unable  to  say.  The  imports  of  the  state 
were,  in  that  year.  $17,063,482,  and  the  exports  $10,098,862, 


298  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

In  Boston  there  is  hut  one  paper  which  advocates  the  principles 
of  free  trade ! 

From  the  foregoing  exposition  it  will  be  seen,  that,  in  the  ci- 
ties of  the  North,  the  ancient  commercial  spirit  has  become  al- 
most extinct.  Political  devotion  to  certain  individuals,  and  ha- 
tred of  others,  have  overturned  the  sound  theoretical  and  prac- 
tical views  for  which  our  merchants  were  formerly  distinguish- 
ed ;  and  it  unfortunately  seems,  that,  for  the  purpose  of  placing 
some  men  in  power,  and  putting  others  out,  the  press  is  kept  in 
a  state  of  silence  upon  vital  questions,  which  are  of  far  more 
importance  to  the  country  than  the  elevation  or  rejection  of  any 
individual,  whoever  he  may  be.  Men,  not  Principles,  is  now 
emphatically  the  doctrine  of  thousands,  who  formerly  would 
have  repudiated  so  immoral  a  precept ;  and  it  is,  no  doubt,  to 
this  perversion  of  honest  and  honourable  feeling,  that  the  press 
is  made  to  bow. 

The  time  once  was,  when  the  American  merchants  prided 
themselves  upon  their  acquaintance  with  the  true  interests  of 
the  country,  and  when  they  took  a  lead  in  the  advocacy  of 
the  principles  by  which  alone  those  interests  can  be  promoted. 
The  time  once  was,  when,  as  a  body,  they  were  looked  up  to 
for  light ;  when  their  influence  in  all  our  commercial  cities  con- 
trolled the  press  and  made  it  subservient  to  the  cause  of  free- 
dom and  general  prosperity.  We  well  recollect  the  day  when 
the  columns  of  every  paper,  save  one,  in  Philadelphia,  were 
open  to  the  most  full  and  free  assaults  upon  the  restrictive  po- 
licy, and  when  a  merchant,  who  was  favourable  to  that  policy, 
would  have  been  regarded  with  amazement.  Shall  we  ever 
again  behold  those  days  ?  We  fear  not.  The  redemption  of 
the  countr}^  from  the  bonds  of  the  restrictive  system  will  be  ac- 
complished, if  ever  it  be,  by  the  sons  of  agriculture,  and  it  is 
to  that  portion  of  our  fellow-citizens  to  whom  we  are  mainly 
to  look  for  our  rescue.  As  evidence  of  what  the  commercial 
character,  intelligence,  and  spirit  of  this  country,  once  was,  we 
have  a  document,  which  we  shall  shortly  lay  before  our  read- 
ers. It  is  a  Memorial,  adopted  in  the  year  1820,  by  a  "  Con- 
vention of  Delegates,  representing  the  merchants,  and  others  in- 
terested in  commerce,  assembled  at  Philadelphia."  It  is  re- 
plete with  sound  views,  exhibits  a  masterly  acquaintance  with 
the  principles  of  national  economy,  expressed  in  language  of 
no  ordinary  cast,  and  cannot  fail  to  be  read,  by  every  lover  of 
the  doctrines  it  so  ably  espouses,  as  a  precious  monument  of 
the  mercantile  wisdom  of  days  that  are  past 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  299 

ESSAY    No.    XC II. 

MARCH  23,  1831. 

The  trade  of  the  Western  country.     Practical  operation  of. 

THE  following  article  is  copied  from  the  "  Cincinnati  Daily 
Advertiser,"  of  March  3d : 

"  Shipments  from  Cincinnati. — We  have  conversed  with  a 
number  of  gentlemen  engaged  in  the  pork  business,  and,  from 
the  best  information  we  can  obtain,  the  returns  (at  usual  prices) 
for  pork,  bacon,  and  lard,  shipped  from  this  port  this  season, 
will  not  fall  short  of  one  million  and  a  half  of  dollars.  The 
quantity  put  up  here,  and  in  the  vicinity,  to  Dayton  included, 
is  greater  than  it  ever  has  been.  We  have  it  from  good  au- 
thority, that  there  are  now  twenty-five  thousand  barrels  of  flour 
at  Dayton,  together  with  a  quantity  of  whiskey,  pork,  bacon, 
lard,  &.C.,  waiting  the  opening  of  the  canal,  which,  judging  from 
the  appearance  of  it  yesterday,  will  not  be  navigable  for  seve- 
ral days  to  come — it  has  now  been  closed  nearly  three  months, 
and  has  occasioned  much  loss  and  distress  to  the  upper  part  of 
the  city.  The  extra  business,  and  the  facility  of  getting  to 
market  at  the  most  desirable  time,  would,  in  two  or  three  years, 
pay  for  turning  it  into  a  rail-road." 

Almost  the  whole  of  the  above  quantity  of  pork,  bacon,  and 
lard,  descends  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  river,  to  New  Orleans, 
from  which  it  is  shipped  to  the  West  Indies,  or  the  Atlantic  ci- 
ties, except  the  part  which  is  consumed  in  Mississippi  and  Lou- 
isiana. Let  us  now  compare  the  result  of  this  operation,  as  it 
is  now  carried  on,  with  what  would  take  place  if  our  duties  on 
foreign  commodities  were  low. 

In  exchange  for  this  produce,  the  Ohio  farmer  no  doubt  de- 
sires to  get,  out  of  the  store  of  the  merchant  who  buys  it  of 
him,  as  many  store  goods  as  the  merchant  can  be  induced  to 
give ;  and  would  he  not,  therefore,  be  greatly  benefited,  if  the 
merchant  could  afford  to  sell  him  goods  at  a  cheaper  rate — or, 
what  is  the  same  thing,  if  the  merchant  could  afford  to  give 
him  more  dry  goods,  sugar,  salt,  iron,  and  such  other  things  as 
he  might  want,  in  exchange  for  his  pork,  bacon,  and  lard  1 
Now,  if  it  were  not  for  the  present  high  duties,  there  is  not  a 
single  article  that  the  farmer  desires  to  get  at  the  store  in  Da}--- 
ton  or  Cincinnati,  which  could  not  be  purchased  at  a  much 
cheaper  rate  than  now ;  and  the  only  question  for  him  to  de- 
cide, in  order  to  enable  him  to  judge  how  far  he  is  benefited 
or  injured  by  high  duties,  is  this:  Should  I  get  as  high  a  price 
for  my  pork,  bacon,  and  lard,  if  the  duties  on  foreign  goods 
were  reduced,  as  I  now  get  ?  To  this  question  there  could  be 


300  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

but  one  answer.  If  duties  were  reduced,  we  should  consume 
more  foreign  goods,  because  they  would  be  cheaper,  and  other 
nations,  finding  us  to  become  better  customers  in  buying  of 
them,  would  necessarily  buy  more  of  us.  The  market  for 
pork,  bacon,  and  lard,  would  consequently  be  extended — more 
could  be  sold,  at  ihe  same  price,  whilst  of  all  store  goods  the 
prices  would  fall.  But,  not  only  would  the  foreign  demand  in- 
crease— the  domestic  demand  would  also  increase.  The  sav- 
ing of  the  great  mass  of  the  people,  in  getting  their  foreign 
goods  cheaper  than  before,  would  give  them  the  means  of  buy- 
mg  more  pork,  bacon,  and  lard.  How  a  truth,  so  self-evident 
as  this,  can  long  remain  concealed  from  the  Ohio  farmers,  we 
are  not  able  to  imagine. 


ESSAY    No.    XCIII 

MARCH   23,    1831, 


Tfie  Coasting  trade.    Causes  of  its  great  increase.     Shewn  not 
to  arise  from  the  restrictive  system. 

MUCH  reliance  is  placed,  by  the  political  arithmeticians,  upon 
the  fact,  that  the  coasting  trade  of  the  United  States  has  great- 
ly increased  since  the  year  1816,  and  they  bring  this  forward 
as  proof  of  the  wisdom  of  the  restrictive  policy.  This,  how- 
ever, is  only  another  instance  of  that  confusion  of  intellect  that 
occasions  effects  to  be  ascribed  to  v/rong  and  inadequate  causes, 
which  is  observable  in  the  whole  course  of  their  reasoning  when 
they  undertake  to  travel  out  of  their  vocation,  and  meddle  with 
political  economy. 

The  increase  of  the  coasting  trade  is  due  to  the  following 
causes : 

First.  To  the  increase  of  population,  and  of  course  to  the 
increase  of  demand  in  each  state  for  the  particular  products 
of  the  others,  in  the  cultivation  or  manufacture  of  which  they 
possess  some  peculiar  natural  or  artificial  advantage. 

Secondly.  To  the  absolute  increase  of  productions,  arising 
from  the  improvements  which  have  taken  place  in  every  branch 
of  industry,  of  late  years,  and  which  enable  the  same  number 
of  labourers  to  produce  a  greater  quantity  of  commodities  than 
before ;  which  increase  would  have  taken  place,  and  have  call- 
ed for  an  increase  of  the  coasting  tonnage,  even  though  the  po- 
pulation had  not  been  increased. 

Thirdly.  To  the  extensive  settlement  of  the  Western  coun- 
try, which  has  multiplied  the  rude  products  of  agriculture,  hav- 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  301 

ing  their  outlet  through  the  Mississippi,  and  their  market  in  the 
Atlantic  states. 

Fourthly.  To  the  improvements  in  steam  navigation,  which 
now  render  it  possible  for  the  Western  country,  as  high  up  the 
Ohio  river  as  Pittsburg,  to  get  from  New  York,  Philadelphia, 
and  Baltimore,  via  New  Orleans,  many  foreign  commodities, 
which  were  formerly  transported  by  land. 

Fifthly.  To  the  gradual  tendency  of  New  York  to  draw  to 
herself  a  disproportionate  share  of  the  foreign  commerce  of  the 
country,  owing  to  her  great  commercial  advantages — which 
tendency  diminishes  the  direct  trade  between  various  ports  of 
the  United  States  and  foreign  countries,  and  leads  them  to  car- 
ry on  their  foreign  exports  and  imports,  by  coasting  tonnage, 
through  New  York. 

These  causes  are  amply  sufficient  to  account  for  the  chief 
part  of  the  increase  of  the  coasting  trade  which  has  taken  place 
since  1816 ;  but, 

Sixthly.  A  further  increase,  to  a  limited  extent,  is  to  be  as- 
cribed to  the  transportation  of  commodities  to  and  from  the 
states  where  the  manufactures  of  cotton,  wool,  iron,  and  su- 
gar, have  beon  forced.  The  precise  extent  of  this  increase 
cannot  be  ascertained,  but  a  little  reflection  wall  show  that  it 
cannot  amount  to  much.  By  way  of  illustration,  let  us  take, 
for  example,  the  boasted  article  of  cotton.  The  consumption 
of  this  article,  hy  the  manufacturers  in  the  United  States,  is 
estimated  at  200,000  bales.  A  ship  of  five  hundred  tons  bur- 
then will  carry  1500  bales.  From  Charleston  or  Savannah,  to 
the  Northern  ports,  eight  voyages  can  be  made  in  a  year,  and 
from  New  Orleans  four,  making  an  average  of  six  voyages — 
and,  consequently,  twenty-three  ships,  of  the  size  we  have  men- 
tioned, are  sufficient  to  transport  the  whole  200,000  bales  from 
the  states  where  they  are  produced,  to  the  states  where  they 
are  manufactured.  The  same  vessels  can  also,  on  their  return 
voyages,  transport  all  the  fabrics  which  can  be  made  out  of 
that  quantity  of  cotton;  and  it  will  thus  appear,  that  twenty- 
three  ships,  or  an  equal  tonnage  in  vessels  of  other  sizes,  are 
sufficient  to  do  all  the  coastwise  carrying  which  is  re(]uired  by 
the  cotton  manufacture.  Now,  although  the  estaljlishment  of 
the  cotton  manufacture  in  this  country  may  afford  employment 
through  the  year  for  twenty-three  ships,  yet,  it  will  hardly  be 
pretended  that  this  benefits  the  general  navigating  interest  of 
the  country  as  a  whole ;  for,  were  it  not  for  that  manufacture, 
this  same  identical  cotton  would  be  transported  to  Europe,  and 
would  give  employment  to  more  vessels,  inasmuch  as  the  voy- 
age could  not  be  performed  in  the  same  time. 

As  to  the  transportation  of  wool  coastwise,  we  presume  it 
does  not  give  employment  for  a  single  ship.  And,  as  to  iron, 
the  quantity  exported  coastwise,  from  the  middle  states,  v»'here 
2C 


302  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

it  is  produced,  over  and  above  what  used  to  be  so  exported  prior 
to  the  high  duties,  would  certainly  not  occupy  more  space  than 
would  be  left  by  the  manufactured  cottons  shipped  in  return  for 
the  raw  cotton. 

But  the  article  of  sugar,  produced  in  Louisiana,  calls  for  in- 
creased tonnage.  This  is  true — but  let  us  see  how,  much  it  will 
be.  A  ship  from  New  Orleans,  of  five  hundred  tons,  will  carry 
1000  hogsheads  at  a  voyage,  and  make  four  voyages  in  a  year. 
The  quantity  transported  coastwise  we  will  suppose  to  be 
80,000  hogsheads,  the  whole  quantity  produced.  It  will  there- 
fore require  twenty  ships  of  that  size  to  do  all  the  carrying  that 
the  sugar  interest  calls  for.  But  is  this  a  benefit  to  the  navi- 
gating interest  1  Would  not  the  importation  of  an  equal  quantity 
of  sugar,  from  the  West  Indies  and  Brazil,  call  for  a  greater 
amount  of  tonnage  than  is  now  employed  in  the  Louisiana 
trade  1  Nobody  can  doubt  it ;  and  thus  it  will  appear,  that  the 
great  increase  given  to  the  coasting  trade,  by  affording  employ- 
ment for  twenty  ships,  in  carrying  sugar,  is  at  most  a  mere 
substitution  of  enrolled  and  licensed  tonnage  for  registered 
tonnage. 

We  have,  however,  one  more  fallacy  to  overturn.  It  is  said 
that  the  manufacturers  of  New  England  consume  a  great  quan- 
tity of  bread-stuffs  raised  in  the  middle  states.  Now,  let  us 
suppose  that  this  quantity  is  equal  to  100,000  barrels,  which 
would  afford  a  barrel  a-piece  to  all  the  persons  concerned  in 
the  manufacture  of  cotton  and  wool  in  the  whole  United  States, 
and  then  let  us  see  how  many  ships  would  be  required  to  trans- 
port this  quantity.  A  ship  of  five  hundred  tons  will  carry 
5000  barrels,  and  will  make  eight  voyages  in  a  year,  so  that, 
to  transport  this  mighty  quantity,  which  is  a  great  deal  more 
than  really  goes,  in  consequence  of  the  restrictive  policy,  would 
require  two  ships  and  a  half. 

These,  then,  are  all  the  benefits  which  the  coasting  trade 
has  derived  from  the  forced  manufacturing  policy.  More  than 
nine-tenths  of  its  increase  are  owing  to  the  unrestricted  inter- 
course which  is  maintained  between  the  different  states — in 
other  words,  to  the  principles  of  /ree  trade  existing  between 
them ;  and  this  great  prosperity  is  nothing  but  an  epitome  of 
the  still  greater  prosperity  which  it  would  enjoy,  if  its  twin- 
sister,  foreign  trade,  were  rescued  from  her  shackels.  If  for- 
eign commerce  were  entirely  unrestricted,  we  have  no  doubt 
that  the  coasting  trade  would  be  vastly  more  extensive ;  for, 
as  the  prosperity  of  the  whole  people  would  be  increased,  their 
power  to  extend  exchanges  of  the  productions  of  the  difTeren/ 
states  would  be  also  increased. 


OF   FREE    TRADE.  303 

ESSAY   No.    XCIV. 

MARCH   30,    1831. 

The  city  of  Pittsburg.  Causes  of  its  growth  and  prosperity  as 
a  manufacturing  toivn.  Shewn  not  to  be  due  to  restrictive 
laics. 

THE  city  of  Pittsburg  is  one  of  the  strong  holds  of  the  Ame- 
rican System.  It  is  quite  probable  that  there  is  not,  in  the 
whole  population,  a  single  individual  who  ever  opens  his  lips 
on  the  subject  of  free  trade,  unless  it  be  to  denounce  it,  what- 
ever he  may  think  in  relation  to  it.  To  attempt,  therefore,  to 
convert  such  a  community  to  the  true  faith,  would  be  almost  as 
vain  as  to  attempt  to  convert  the  Turks  to  Christianity.  It  is 
impossible  to  change  the  opinions  of  those  who  are  determined 
to  listen  to  no  arguments  but  those  which  favour  their  existing 
notions,  and  we  suppose  that  it  would  be  just  as  impracticable 
to  find  readers  who  would  pay  for  this  journal,  in  that  city,  as 
it  would  be  to  find  readers  to  pay  for  Scott's  Commentaries  in 
that  part  of  Constantinople  from  which  the  Franks  are  excluded. 
The  people  of  Pittsburg  would  no  doubt  be  as  much  astonished 
to  hear  it  asserted  that  the  restrictive  policy  was  injurious  to 
their  prosperity,  as  the  people  of  Brazil  are  when  foreigners  tell 
them  that  the  use  of  carts  for  heavy  burdens,  which  are  in  ge- 
neral use  there,  having  the  axletree  to  turn  round  with  the 
wheels,  is  not  an  advantageous  custom.  It  is  nevertheless  true 
— and,  if  we  cannot  demonstrate  it  to  the  satisfaction  of  any 
intelligent  man,  we  should  like  to  see  any  such  point  out  the  de- 
fect of  our  reasoning,  and  we  will  cheerfully  publish  it. 

Pittsburg  is  a  city  containing,  with  its  suburbs,  upwards  of 
twenty  thousand  inhabitants.  It  is  extensively  engaged  in  ma- 
nufactures, but  chiefly  in  the  manufacture  of  steamboats,  steam 
engines,  and  various  other  branches  in  which  iron  constitutes 
the  chief  material.  This  iron  is  not  produced  in  Pittsburg,  nor 
even  in  its  vicinity,  but  is  transported  from  a  distance  of  at 
least  one  hundred  miles,  and,  until  within  a  year  past,  during 
which  a  canal  for  part  of  the  way  has  been  in  operation,  this 
transportation  has  been  performed  by  land,  at  an  average  ex- 
pense of  at  least  $20  per  ton.  From  this  it  will  be  seen  that 
the  interest  of  Pittsburg  is  not  at  all  identified  with  the  inte- 
rests of  the  owners  of  the  iron-mines,  who  arc  the  only  class  of 
people  in  this  country  benefited  by  the  high  duty  on  iron.  So 
far  from  it,  her  interests  are  directly  opposed  to  theirs.  Her 
interest  is  to  get  iron  cheap ;  their  interest  is  to  sell  it  dear. 
They  stand  in  relation  to  each  other  as  buyer  and  seller,  and 
the  Juniata  iron  masters  are  as  much  foreigners  to  the  Pitts- 
burg iron  manufacturers,  as  are  those  of  England.    To  identify 


304  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

their  interests  is  impossible.  They  never  have  been  the  same 
— they  are  not  now  the  same — and  they  never  can  be  the  same, 
unless  it  can  be  shown  that  the  interests  of  the  man  whose 
trade  flourishes  most  when  he  buys  raw  materials  cheap,  are 
the  same  with  those  of  the  man  whose  trade  flourishes  most 
when  he  sells  those  raw  materials  dear.  We  are  almost  asham- 
ed to  be  so  particular  in  elucidating  a  self-evident  proposition, 
but,  as  we  like  to  clear  the  road  thoroughly  as  we  proceed  in 
an  argument,  we  think  it  best  to  stop  by  the  way  and  pick  up 
even  the  smallest  pebbles  that  lie  in  the  path. 

Upon  the  cheapness  of  raw  materials,  other  circumstances 
being  equal,  must  depend  the  greater  or  less  extent  of  any  ma- 
nufacture. If  iron  w^as  cheaper,  at  Pittsburg,  than  it  now  is, 
the  greater  would  be  the  number  of  steamboats,  of  steam  en- 
gines, of  machines,  of  cut  nails,  of  castings,  of  chains,  of 
spades,  shovels,  hoes,  axes,  crowbars,  ploughs,  harrows,  carts, 
wagons,  carriages,  horse  shoes,  scythes,  hatchets,  hammers, 
cutlery,  and  the  various  other  articles  of  manufacture  which 
are  there  carried  on.  Of  this  position  there  can  be  no  denial. 
There  is  not,  in  the  whole  American  "  Birmingham,"  a  com- 
mon labourer  who  would  not  see  its  truth,  if  presented  to  him ; 
and  the  only  question,  therefore,  for  us  now  to  consider,  is,  whe- 
ther iron  is  as  cheap  at  Pittsburg,  under  the  present  high  duty, 
as  it  would  be  under  a  low  duty  of  fifteen  per  centum.  But  first 
we  will  advert  to  the  past  history  of  this  iron  manufacture. 

The  manufacture  of  iron  for  the  use  of  ships,  river  craft,  and 
for  all  the  various  purposes  of  agriculture,  has  been  carried  on 
at  all  times  since  the  settlement  of  Pittsburg,  but  has  become 
much  more  extended  since  the  introduction,  on  the  Western 
waters,  within  the  last  twenty  years,  of  steamboats  and  steam- 
engines.  Owing  to  the  great  expense  of  transportation  by 
land,  from  the  Atlantic  cities,  in  former  years,  foreign  iron  was 
a  prohibited  article.  For  several  years  after  the  last  war,  the 
freight  of  goods  to  Pittsburg  from  Baltimore,  the  nearest  At- 
lantic port,  was  never  below  $5  per  100  lbs.,  and  was  some- 
times as  high  as  $8.  This  charge,  upon  iron,  would  have 
amounted  to  $112  to  $179.20  per  ton.  But,  as  the  iron  mines 
on  the  head  waters  of  the  Juniata  could  furnish  it  at  a  much 
less  price,  on  account  of  the  diminished  distance,  supplies  from 
that  source  were  procured,  upon  the  natural  principles  of  free 
trade,  as  being  the  cheapest  that  could  possibly  be  got.  The 
position,  too,  of  the  Juniata  mines,  conferred  upon  their  own- 
ers the  monopoly  of  the  Western  supply,  a  monopoly  of  which 
no  one  had  a  right  to  comptain,  because  it  arose  from  the  na- 
tural operation  of  things. 

In  process  of  time,  as  foreign  iron  became  cheaper,  (for  it 
has  been  falUng  in  price,  in  England,  ever  since  the  year  1814,) 
IS  the  price  of  land-carriage  declined,  and  as  water  communi- 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  305 

cations  were  getting  pushed  up  from  Philadelphia  towards 
Pittsburg,  through  the  region  of  the  Juniata  mines,  Pittsburg 
would  have  felt  the  influence  of  these  blessings,  had  it  suited 
the  interests  of  the  iron  masters ;  but  they,  having  long  enjoy- 
ed the  fruits  of  a  natural  monopoly,  were  determined,  since 
that  was  lost  to  them  forever,  to  secure  to  themselves  an  arti- 
ficial monopoly,  which  would  put  an  equal  profit  into  their 
pockets.  Accordingly  they  have  so  contrived  it,  that  a  high 
duty  is  now  made  to  perform  the  function  which  mountains  and 
bad  roads  used  to  perform  before.  The  iron  aristocracy  have 
decreed,  that  the  manufacturers  of  Pittsburg  shall  not  have  the 
benefit  of  cheap  iron,  and  thus  far  they  have  been  enabled  to 
gull  them  into  the  belief,  that  the  more  they  pay  for  iron  the 
better.  We  think,  however,  that  this  delusion  cannot  last  much 
longer.  After  the  completion  of  the  Pennsylvania  canal,  with- 
in a  year  or  two,  it  will  be  possible  to  transport  iron  to  Pitts- 
burg, from  Philadelphia,  at  about  $10  per  ton;  and,  conse- 
quently, it  would  be  possible  for  the  manufacturers  there,  if  it 
were  not  for  the  duty,  to  procure  foreign  iron  at  $60  or  $70 
per  ton,  instead  of  $100.  The  land-carriage  has  of  late  years 
been  as  low  as  $3  to  $2  per  100  pounds;  but  although  much 
lower  than  before,  it  has  still  amounted  to  prohibition.  Now, 
cannot  any  body  see,  who  can  command  the  half  of  an  idea, 
that  Pittsburg  would  be  as  much  benefited,  after  the  Pennsyl- 
vania canal  is  finished,  by  free  trade  in  iron,  as  any  part  of  the 
country  ?  Nay,  would  she  not  be  more  so  in  proportion  to  her 
size  1  Nothing  is  clearer — and  how  she  can  longer  remain  un- 
der such  delusion,  it  will  be  difficult  to  conceive. 

But  it  may  be  asked,  how  has  it  happened  that  Pittsburg  has 
thrived  under  the  restrictive  system  ?  \Ve  answer : 

Fii'st.  That  the  restrictive  system,  as  far  as  it  relates  to 
iron,  which  constitutes  the  great  bulk  of  her  manufactures,  has 
never  yet  reached  her.  She  has  procured  her  supplies  of  iron 
from  a  quarter  from  which  she  would  have  drawn  them  whe- 
ther the  duty  had  been  one  dollar,  ten  dollars,  or  fifty  dollars, 
a  ton ;  and, 

Secondly.  That  her  natural  advantages  for  carrying  op  the 
manufacture  of  iron  are  so  great,  that  she  would  prosper  in 
spite  of  any  restrictive  system. 

These  advantages  are,  a  position  at  the  confluence  of  two 
mighty  rivers,  which  flow  through  a  fertile  country — a  produc- 
tive soil  in  her  neighbourhood,  owing  to  which  provisions  are 
brought  to  market  at  a  very  low  price,  and  enable  workmen  to 
live  better,  upon  low  money  wages,  than  they  can,  in  some 
other  places,  upon  high  wages — and,  lastly,  inexhaustible  beds 
of  bituminous  coal,  which  enable  the  manufacturers  to  supply 
themselves  at  the  very  low  price  of  four  cents  a  bushel,  or  $  1.44 
cents  per  chaldron  of  36  bushels,  delivered.  The  advantages 
2C* 


306  ESSAYS    ON    THE     PRINCIPLES 

of  cheap  fuel,  in  reference  to  all  the  manufactures  of  iron, 
are  too  apparent  to  need  illustration,  and  we  shall  only,  there- 
fore, say,  that,  in  this  particular,  the  Pittsburg  manufacturers 
have  a  decided  advantage,  not  only  over  other  towns  of  the 
United  States,  but  even  over  the  manufacturers  of  Great  Bri- 
tain. An  excise  or  coastwise  duty  keeps  up  the  price  of  it 
there,  and  we  have  now  before  us  a  London  Price  Current,  of 
the  30th  of  November  last,  with  the  following  quotations,  per 
chaldron : 

Coals,  Newcastle,  best,       -         -       30s.  6d.  to  355, 
seconds,     -         -   29     0      to  30 
Sunderland,         -        -         -   34     3      to  37 
Scotch,  Welsh,  and  York,       27     0      to  31 

The  lowest  price  here  named  is  equal  to  $  6,  and  the  highest 
to  $8.21,  per  chaldron. 

That  the  difference,  too,  in  the  comfort  of  living,  as  regards 
fuel,  between  a  manufacturer  at  Pittsburg  and  one  at  N.  York 
may  be  apparent,  we  state  that  the  price  of  a  chaldron  of  Li- 
verpool coal,  in  this  city,  has,  for  the  last  six  weeks,  been  at 
$12,  and  is  seldom  below  $9. 

In  reference  to  other  manufactures  which  require  cheap  fuel, 
Pittsburg  enjoys  natural  advantages  which  few  other  places 
possess,  and  the  immense  extent  of  country  to  which  she  can 
have  access  by  water,  must  forever  secure  her  a  great  and 
growing  prosperity.  In  order  that  the  advantages  which  she 
already  enjoys,  in  regard  to  the  manufacture  of  machinery, 
may  be  made  apparent,  we  can  assert,  as  a  fact,  that  steam 
engines  have  been  made,  within  two  years,  at  Pittsburg,  upon 
orders  from  the  eastward,  and  transported  by  land  all  the  way 
to  Philadelphia,  a  distance  of  three  hundred  miles.  And  yet 
this  is  a  place,  the  inhabitants  of  which  cry  out  that  they  would 
not  be  benefited  by  cheap  iron.  Why,  if  they  possessed  com- 
mon sense,  and  would  exercise  it,  they  would  perceive,  that, 
if  the  duty  was  taken  off  from  iron,  so  as  to  reduce  its  price 
$30  a  ton,  that  sum  would,  after  the  completion  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania canal,  pay  the  whole  freight  of  foreign  iron  from  Phi- 
ladelphia to  Pittsburg,  and  of  steam  engines  back  again,  which 
would  enable  them  greatly  to  extend  the  advantages  they  now 
enjoy,  and  which  are  to  be  ascribed  to  cheap  fuel,  cheap  living, 
and  cheap  rents.  A  family  in  Pittsburg  can  be  supported  upon 
half  the  sum  that  one  can  be  in  any  of  the  Atlantic  cities — 
and  if  Pittsburg  would  rely  upon  her  natural  advantages  for 
her  prosperity,  instead  of  upon  the  nonsense  called  the  Ameri- 
can System,  she  would  prosper  far  more  rapidly  than  she  has 
heretofore  done.  By  low  duties,  her  population  would  procure 
their  foreign  supplies  of  raw  materials  and  other  commodities 
at  much  less  than  their  present  prices,  and  at  the  same  time 
the  demand  for  her  iron  manufactures  would  be  increased. 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  307 

ESSAY   No.  X  C  V. 

MARCH   30,    1831. 

TJie  consumption  of  foreign  commodities  gives  employment  to 
liome  industry  as  much  as  the  consumption  of  domestic  pro- 
ducts. 

THE  fallacy  which  the  restrictionists  use  to  the  most  advan- 
tage, is  the  one  that  asserts,  that,  by  importing  and  consuming 
foreign  commodities,  we  afford  encouragement  to  foreign  in- 
dustry, to  the  disadvantage  of  our  own — that,  in  fact,  it  is  tak- 
ing the  bread  out  of  the  mouths  of  our  own  citizens,  and  giv- 
ing it  to  foreigners.  This  position,  which  possesres  ai  first 
sight  a  plausibility,  makes  such  a  strong  appeal  to  the  feelings 
of  the  great  mass  of  the  people,  who  believe  that  "  charity  be- 
gins at  home,"  that  it  is  taken  for  granted  by  nine  persons  cut 
of  ten,  who  are  not  inclined  to  take  the  trouble  of  thinking  on 
the  subject.  Nothing,  however,  can  be  more  erroneous  than 
this  belief,  as  we  have  often  shown  in  this  journal — but  as  our 
opponents  are  constantly  harping  upon  it  as  an  incontroverti- 
ble doctrine,  it  becomes  necessary  for  us  to  repeat,  over  and 
over  again,  the  same  arguments,  in  the  hope  that  some  new 
mode  of  presenting  the  question  may  catch  hold  of  the  minds 
of  some,  who  have  heretofore  been  proof  against  the  force  of 
reason.  In  a  labour  like  that  which  we  have  undertaken  to  per- 
form, great  patience  is  required ;  and  although  we  suppose 
that  the  great  body  of  our  readers  understand  all  these  hack- 
neyed subjects,  yet  there  are  others,  who  read  our  paper,  who 
must  be  fed  with  milk,  because  they  cannot  yet  digest  meat. 

When  foreign  commodities  are  imported,  they  are  not  paid 
for,  or  they  are  paid  for.  This  is  a  proposition  which  no  one 
can  dispute. 

If  they  are  not  paid  for,  they  are  a  clear  gain  to  the  country, 
and  are  as  much  a  benefit  to  the  nation  as  any  gratuity  would 
be  to  an  individual  from  another  individual.  No  one  would 
think  it  other  than  a  public  gain  if  it  were  to  rain  dollars,  or 
broadcloths,  or  muslins,  or  hardware,  provided  they  did  not 
fall  on  the  people  and  break  their  heads.  Nor  could  any  one 
consider  it  other  than  advantageous  to  us,  if  the  British  or  the 
French  should  pour  into  the  country  whole  cargoes  of  their 
fabrics,  and  give  them  to  us  for  nothing.  This  is  also  a  propo- 
sition which  none  but  an  idiot  would  dispute.  To  be  sure  we 
do  not  often  have  an  opportunity  of  experiencing  such  benefits. 
Foreigners  are  very  much  like  ourselves.  They  have  no  idea 
of  giving  a  quid,  without  receiving  a  quo;  and  hence  it  may 
be  taken  as  an  incontrovertible  truth,  that,  with  the  exceotion 


308  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

of  the  comparatively  small  amount  which  insolvent  merchants 
ovv^e  to  foreigners,  the  nation  pays  for  every  thing  it  imports 
from  abroad. 

The  next  question  is,  how  are  foreign  goods  paid  for?  They 
are  paid  for,  either — 

First.  With  merchandise,  shipped  directly  to  the  country 
from  which  the  foreign  imports  are  received ;  or. 

Secondly.  With  bills  of  exchange,  drawn  upon  shipments  of 
produce  to  other  foreign  countries ;  or. 

Thirdly.  With  merchandise  procured  with  American  pro- 
duce in  foreign  countries,  and  carried  to  the  countries  from 
which  we  import ;  or, 

Fourtlily.  With  gold  and  silver. 

Now,  whether  the  payment  be  made  in  the  one  mode  or  the 
other,  the  value  given  is  precisely  equal  to  the  value  received  ; 
and  hence  it  is  that  commerce  is  an  exchange  of  equivalents  as 
estimated  in  the  foreign  markets  where  the  foreign  goods  are 
purchased.  All  that  remains,  then,  to  be  seen,  is,  whether  this 
trade  can  possibly  be  carried  on  without  affording  as  much  em- 
ployment to  domestic  industry  as  to  foreign  industry;  for,  if  it 
cannot  be,  the  position  we  are  combating  must  be  abandoned 
as  untenable. 

If  payment  be  made  in  the  first  mode,  it  is  self-evident  that  it 
cannot  be  done  without  employing  domestic  industry  to  a  value 
equal  to  the  foreign.  No  man  can  ship  a  cargo  of  flour  to  the 
West  Indies,  of  tobacco  to  France,  of  cotton  to  England,  in 
exchange  for  sugar,  silks,  or  woollen  cloths,  without  aflbrding 
employment  to  the  industry  of  the  agriculturists  who  produce 
those  articles,  equal  in  value  to  the  industry  of  those  foreigners 
who  produce  the  commodities  received  in  return. 

The  same  principle  is  equally  true  of  the  second  mode.  No 
merchant  can  ship  a  cargo  to  Holland,  and  there  sell  it  for  bills 
on  England,  without  affording  employment  to  domestic  indus- 
try equal  to  the  value  of  that  employed  in  producing  the  articles 
paid  for  with  the  bills. 

It  is  equally  true  of  the  third  mode.  A  cargo  of  iron  or 
hemp,  purchased  in  Russia,  with  a  cargo  of  sugar,  purchased 
in  Brazil  with  a  cargo  of  flour,  cannot  be  imported  without  af- 
fording employment  to  the  domestic  industry  of  those  who  pro- 
duced the  fiour,  equal  in  value  to  the  industry  of  those  who  pro- 
duced the  iron  or  hemp. 

Nor  is  there  the  slightest  difference  in  regard  to  the  fourth 
mode.  Gold  and  silver  are  as  much  articles  of  merchandise  as 
iron  and  lead,  and,  excepting  the  quantity  produced  in  the 
Southern  states,  of  the  latter  metal,  which  is  directly  the  pro- 
duce of  Am.erican  industry,  they  are,  and  can  only  be,  procur- 
ed in  exchange  for  the  products  of  domestic  industry.  So  that, 
vievv'ing  the  matter  as  we  may,  it  is  impossible  to  give  it  any 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  309 

other  aspect  than  the  true  one,  which  is,  that  foreign  goods 
cannot  possibly  be  consumed  without  giving  employment  to  do- 
mestic industry  equal  in  value  to  the  foreign  industry  employed 
in  their  production.  Indeed  this  principle  is  so  plain,  that  no 
man  can  fail  to  see  it,  and  we  defy  all  the  sophistry  of  the  most 
ingenious  champions  of  the  restrictive  school  to  controvert  it. 
If  any  such  will  venture  to  enter  upon  the  task,  we  will  cheer- 
fully open  our  columns  to  their  communications.  We  have 
never  yet  refused  to  publish  an  article  from  an  opponent.  Our 
object  is  the  investigation  of  truth — and,  if  a  similar  disposition 
was  prevalent  with  the  generality  of  editors,  the  nation  could 
not  long  be  humbugged  by  such  nonsense  as  is  passed  off  upon 
the  people  for  science  and  political  philosophy.  Would  any  man 
believe  that  it  is  positively  in  defence  of  such  absurdities  as  the 
one  we  have  just  refuted,  that  a  party  in  this  country  is  will- 
ing to  hazard  the  very  existence  of  the  Union  1  And  yet  the 
fact  is  even  so — for  there  is  not  a  dogma  of  the  American 
System  that  stands  upon  any  stronger  ground  than  this. 


ESSAY   No.  XCVI. 

APRIL  6,   1831. 

The  present  crisis  calls  for  increased  efforts  on  the  part  of  the 
friends  of  free  trade.  The  tax  paid  by  Pennsylvania  for 
the  support  of  the  American  System,  far  exceeds  her  gains 
from  it.     An  account-current  stated. 

OUR  friends  at  the  North  begin  to  despond,  and,  in  our  hum- 
ble opinion,  the  present  crisis  calls  for  increased  efforts  on  the 
part  of  those  who  desire  to  see  the  principles  of  free  trade 
established  by  a  revolution  in  public  opinion,  and  not  by  a  re- 
volution in  which  the  sword  shall  perform  the  service  which 
argument  and  reasoning  are  capable  of  effecting.  That  the 
party  press  is  gradually  coming  to  our  aid,  is  very  manifest — 
but  the  obstructions  which  are  placed  in  its  way,  in  some  of  the 
states,  are  too  great  to  be  surmounted  but  by  slow  degrees.  For 
a  long  time  yet  to  come,  truth  must  be  mixed  up  with  fallacyj^ 
in  accommodation  to  the  prevailing  prejudices  of  the  day — and 
it  is  therefore  not  difficult  to  be  seen,  how  important  it  is  that 
a  Banner  should  be  constantly  held  up  to  the  view  of  the  com- 
batants, upon  which  the  true  doctrine  is  inscribed.  The  course 
we  have  uniformly  pursued,  has  been  to  maintain  the  abstract 
principles  of  political  economy ;  and,  although  we  may  be  con- 
sidered as  ultra  in  our  \\qws,  we  offer  no  apology  for  them. 
Tliey  are  the  truths  of  science — and,  if  others  cannot  come  up  to 
the  mark,  that  is  no  reason  why  we  should  desert  the  standard. 


310  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

We  hinted,  in  a  late  paper,  that  a  powerful  demonstration 
upon  Pennsylvania  might  make  a  deep  impression  upon  that 
state.  Pennsylvania  has  no  direct  interest  in  the  tariff  policy 
at  all  equal  to  the  injury  she  sustains  from  its  operation.  Es- 
timating her  population  at  one  tenth  of  the  whole  population  of 
the  United  States — that  is,  1,200,000  souls — and  estimating  her 
consumption  of  foreign  commodities  in  the  same  proportion — it 
appears  that,  of  the  duties  paid  into  the  treasury,  she  contri- 
butes $2,400,000,  the  total  amount  being  about  $24,000,000. 
But  this  is  not  the  whole  burden  she  sustains  from  the  impost 
system.  She  contributes  one-tenth  of  the  bounties  paid  to  the 
monopolists  who  are  favoured  by  law  with  the  privilege,  exclu- 
sive to  a  certain  extent,  of  supplying  certain  commodities  to  the 
people  of  this  country.  She  pays  $240,000  per  annum  into 
;  the  pockets  of  the  sugar  planters  of  Louisiana,  of  the  whole 
,.  bounty  of  $  2,400,000.  She  pays  at  least  $  600,000  to  the  cot- 
ton manufacturers,  that  sum  being  equal  to  the  one-tenth  of  two 
cents  increased  price  per  yard  upon  the  quantity  said  to  be 
manufactured  in  the  country.  She  pays  at  least  $1,200,000  to 
the  manufacturers  of  wool,  increased  price,  equal  to  one  dollar 
per  head  of  her  population,  which  any  one  may  see  is  not  an 
over-estimate.  She  pays,  on  the  various  other  articles  consum- 
ed by  her,  and  which  have  the  benefit  of  protecting  duties  in 
their  favour,  such  as  iron,  salt,  glass,  hardware,  &c.,  or  which 
are  rendered  dearer  because  their  producers  are  taxed  heavily 
on  the  articles  they  consume,  an  increased  price,  equal  to  at 
least  $  1,560,000  more.  In  short,  the  impost  system,  by  its  di- 
rect and  indirect  operations  combined,  cannot  cost  Pennsyl- 
vania one  cent  less  than  $  6,000,000 — that  is,  five  dollars  a  head 
on  her  population — one-half  of  which,  at  least,  may  be  placed 
to  the  account  of  the  protective  system. 

Let  us  now  examine,  and  see  what  she  gains  by  the  protec- 
tive system.  She  produces  a  quantity  of  iron,  equal,  say,  to 
25,000  tons.  Most  of  this  iron  is  produced  in  the  interior,  and  is 
not  affected  by  foreign  competition.  That  part  of  the  duty 
which  is  imposed  for  protection  does  not  exceed  $  20  upon  an 
average,  and,  consequently,  her  whole  gain  on  this  article,  as  a 
state,  cannot  possibly  amount  to  more  than  $  500,000.  She 
produces,  in  one  district  only,  salt,  which  is  so  far  out  of  the 
reach  of  the  competition  of  foreign  salt,  that,  if  there  were  no 
duty  at  all  upon  it,  the  price  could  not  be  influenced.  She  pro- 
duces cotton  goods,  but  to  a  very  limited  extent,  compared  to 
her  own  consumption.  The  rest  of  her  manufactures  are  very 
few  of  them  dependent  upon  the  protective  system.  They 
j  flourished  when  the  duties  were  low,  and  they  would  continue 
I  to  flourish  if  the  duties  were  low  again.  Philadelphia  has  been 
prominent  for  her  numerous  manufactures  ever  since  the  pe- 
riod of  the  revolution,  and  her  prosperity,  so  far  from  being  de- 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  311 

pendent  upon  the  restrictive  system,  has  been  injured  by  it.  If  an 
accurate  statement  could  be  made,  by  way  of  account-current, 
showing  the  advantages  Pennsylvania  enjoys  from  the  existence 
of  the  tariff,  and  the  advantages  she  would  experience  under  a 
system  of  unrestricted  trade,  the  balance  would  be  shown  to  be 
so  greatly  in  favour  of  the  latter,  that  not  a  farmer  in  the  state 
would  hesitate  as  to  the  choice.  Of  this  position  we  are  firmly 
convinced,  but  the  difficulty  is,  how  can  illustrations  of  these 
facts  be  brought  into  the  view  of  the  people  ?  The  existing  press 
is  afraid  to  touch  the  subject,  because  error  and  prejudice  are  so 
widely  diffused  that  loss  of  patronage  and  political  standing 
might  be  the  consequence.  Nor  will  people  very  readily  pay 
for  the  privilege  of  reading  a  paper  which  they  know  contains 
views  adverse  to  their  existing  notions.  In  all  other  matters, 
where  it  is  desirable  to  reclaim  people  from  error,  the  mode 
usually  resorted  to  is  to  distribute  gratuitously  the  means  of  il- 
lumination. Experience  declares  that  there  is  no  other  effec- 
tive mode  of  proceeding.  If  it  were  designed  to  teach  Christian- 
ity in  India,  the  mode  of  proceeding  would  be  to  give  the  New 
Testament  to  the  Hindoos,  and  not  to  wait  until  they  should 
come  to  buy  it.  Before  a  man  will  purchase  a  book,  he  must 
first  have  the  inclination  to  read  it.  It  must  be  put  in  his  way 
without  cost.  We  were  for  years  witnesses  of  the  struggle 
made  in  Philadelphia  to  disseminate  the  doctrines  of  restriction. 
Pamphlet  after  pamphlet  was  written,  and  literally  forced  upon 
the  people  against  their  wishes.  One  single  individual,  as  we 
mentioned  on  a  former  occasion,  expended  a  thousand  dollars 
on  this  system  of  carrying  the  war  into  the  enemy's  houses,  and 
he  had  the  gratification  to  find  that  his  efforts  were  at  last  suc- 
cessful. He  absolutely  converted  a  free  trade  population  to  the 
opposite  side  of  the  question. 

Now,  can  one  who  is  acquainted  with  the  difference  between 
carrying  on  a  combat  with  the  sharp  sword  of  truth  and  the 
blunt  weapons  of  error,  doubt  of  the  success  which  would  at- 
tend efforts  directed  to  a  specific  point  ?  We  may  perhaps  at- 
tach an  idea  of  too  much  potency  to  truth,  but  we  have  a  very 
strong  impression  that  the  state  of  Pennsylvania  may  be  car- 
ried by  a  bold  stroke,  and  all  will  admit,  that,  if  she  can  be  de- 
tached from  her  allegiance  to  the  American  System,  the  fabric 
will  crumble  to  atoms.  At  all  events  it  is  worth  the  attempt. 
The  present  year  offers  the  most  favourable  moment  for  the  ex- 
periment ;  and,  if  we  should  be  seconded  in  our  views  by  any 
considerable  number  of  the  friends  to  our  cause,  we  flatter  our- 
selves that  we  can  offer  a  plan  of  operation  which  will  be  both 
practicable  and  economical. 


312  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

ESSAY     No.     XCVII. 

APRIL   19,   1831. 

Reasons  why  restrictive  laivshave  been  established  i'l  7nost  couU' 
tries.  History  of  the  Excise  System  in  the  United  States  in 
1795. 

EVERY  one  who  has  examined  the  subject,  knows,  that  the 
reason  why  restrictive  laws  have  been  introduced  into  the  com- 
mercial poUcy  of  most  nations,  is,  that  those  who  have  a  great 
and  direct  interest  in  their  enactment  can  always  bring  their 
influence  and  power  to  bear  upon  the  government  more  effi- 
ciently, than  those,  even  though  vastly  more  numerous,  whose 
interest  is  small  and  indirect.  Hence,  when  ship-owners  have 
wanted  navigation  laws,  to  insure  them  a  monopoly  in  the 
transportation  of  commodities,  being  assembled  in  sea-ports, 
and  in  compact  bodies,  they  have  at  all  times  been  enabled  to 
present  their  claims  for  protection  in  a  manner  which  the  rest 
of  the  community,  who  are  injured  by  monopolies  of  all  kinds, 
have  not  been  able  to  resist.  The  same  is  true  of  manufac- 
turers :  living  in  cities  and  towns,  they  can  combine  with  facili- 
ty ;  and,  having  a  direct  interest  in  all  they  can  extort  from 
the  pockets  of  the  rest  of  the  nation,  they  spare  neither  pains 
nor  money  to  accomplish  their  ends.  The  community,  on  the 
other  hand — which  comprises,  in  reference  to  each  specific  mo- 
nopoly, every  individual  in  the  country  who  is  not  directly 
concerned  in  that  specific  monopoly — finding  their  contribu- 
tions light,  feel  an  indifference  on  the  subject,  and  do  not  take 
the  trouble  to  prevent  the  rapacity  which  by  degrees  is  con- 
suming their  substance.  The  tax  of  $  4,200,000,  now  paid  on 
sugar,  is  contributed  by  twelve  miUions  of  people ;  but,  be- 
cause it  amounts  on  an  average,  to  only  35  cents  a  head,  it  is 
regarded  as  a  burden  of  too  trifling  a  weight  to  merit  conside- 
ration. And  yet  three  such  duties  would  support  the  whole 
expenses  of  this  government  after  the  public  debt  is  extin- 
guished. Now,  when  it  is  recollected,  that,  of  this  $4,200,000, 
more  than  one  half  of  it — viz.,  $  2,400,000 — goes  into  the  pock- 
ets of  about  five  hundred  sugar  planters  in  Louisiana,  in  the 
shape  of  a  duty  of  three  cents  a  pound  upon  80,000,000  lbs.  of 
sugar — or,  if  it  does  not  go  there,  it  is  a  dead  loss  to  the  na- 
tion, incurred  on  their  account — it  is  difficult  to  discover  the 
reason  why  the  zeal  of  the  few,  to  keep  on  this  duty,  should  be 
stronger  than  that  of  the  many,  to  get  it  off"?  So  in  reference 
to  the  duty  on  iron,  on  cotton  and  woollen  fabrics,  and  the  fifty 
other  articles,  the  manufacture  of  which  is  sustained  by  plun- 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  313 

dering  the  rest  of  the  community,  without  an  equivalent.  The 
direct  interests  of  the  few  are  so  great,  and  the  benefits  so  cer- 
tain, that  they  have  every  motive  for  activity  and  exertion. 
Hence  they  buy  up  the  press,  circulate  their  fallacious  argu- 
ments, to  prove  to  the  people  that  high  duties  make  goods 
cheap,  and  send  men  of  their  own  class  to  Congress,  by  the 
votes  of  their  dependents  and  retainers. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  public,  good-natured  fool  as  it  is, 
stands  by,  with  its  hands  hanging  down  by  its  sides,  and  looks 
on  with  as  much  unconcern  as  an  ideot,  who  has  fallen  into 
the  hands  of  a  highwayman.  It  holds  out  no  inducement  for 
an  advocacy  of  its  cause.  It  neither  pays  nor  thanks  those 
who  take  up  a  defence  of  its  rights,  but  permits  them  to  strug- 
gle against  prejudice  and  the  bad  feelings  of  those  whose  inte- 
rests or  ambition  are  endangered  by  their  efforts,  with  scarce- 
ly a  word  of  comfort  to  cheer  them  on  their  way.  We  have 
long  since  come  to  the  conclusion,  that,  were  it  not  for  the 
spark  of  liberty  which  has  been  left  burning  in  the  breasts  of 
the  Southern  people,  and  the  mere  abstract  love  of  truth  and 
justice  which  exists  there,  and  in  a  few,  very  few,  bosoms  at 
the  North,  the  cause  of  free  trade  would  succumb  to  the  mono- 
polists, and  the  whole  nation  be  turned  over  to  them,  bound 
hand  and  foot. 

We  have  been  led  to  these  reflections  by  perusing  a  pamphlet 
of  116  pages,  published  at  Philadelphia,  anonymously,  "for 
the  booksellers,"  in  the  year  1795,  entitled  "A  Short  History 
of  the  Nature  and  Consequences  of  Excise  Laws ;  including 
some  account  of  the  recent  interruption  of  the  Manufactories 
of  Snuff  and  Refined  Sugars."  This  work  afibrds  a  remark- 
able and  striking  example  of  the  pertinacity  with  which  the 
manufacturers  hold  together  and  resist  any  encroachments 
made  upon  their  interests :  and  presents,  besides,  some  very 
interesting  particulars,  of  which  we  shall  offer  a  brief  summa- 
ry, and  from  which  we  shall  be  able  to  draw  some  conclusions 
highly  favourable  to  the  cause  we  espouse. 

In  the  year  1794  a  bill  was  introduced  into  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States,  imposing  an  excise  of  four  cents  a  pound 
upon  all  tobacco,  and  eight  cents  a  pound  upon  all  snuff  manu- 
factured, and  of  two  cents  a  pound  upon  all  sugar  refined,  in 
the  United  States.  This  measure  excited  the  alarm  and  hosti- 
lity of  the  tobacconists  and  sugar-refiners,  who,  with  great  una- 
nimity, combined  to  prevent  its  passage.  On  the  2d  of  May 
the  tobacconists  presented  to  the  House  of  Representatives  a 
remonstrance  against  the  bill  as  far  as  it  referred  to  them,  set- 
ting forth,  in  sound  and  strong  terms,  the  impolicy  of  such  a 
tax.  They  deprecated,  not  only  the  adoption  of  excises,  as  a 
means  of  raising  revenue,  but  they  particularly  urged  the  inex- 
pediencv  of  imposing  a  burden  upon  a  manufacture  which  on- 
2D 


314  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

ly  dated  its  existence  from  the  close  of  the  revolutionary  war. 
They  insisted,  also,  upon  the  obligation  of  the  government  to 
favour  domestic  manufactures — not,  however,  by  high  duties 
upon  rival  commodities  imported  from  abroad,  for  they  adopt 
the  precise  ground  taken  by  the  Philadelphia  blacksmiths,  and 
insist  upon  it  that  the  imposition  of  a  corresponding  duty  on 
the  foreign  manufacture  would  be  "  delusive  and  nugatory" — 
but  by  the  government's  merely  keeping  its  hands  off.  They 
say :  **  Societies  are  formed  in  almost  every  state,  to  intro- 
duce, encourage,  and  protect,  domestic  manufactures ;  and  the 
independence  of  the  United  States,  in  arts,  as  well  as  govern- 
ment, must  be  made  perfect,  unless  the  hand  of  power  shall  pre- 
maturely shackle  vith  a  tax  those  exertions  which  the  wise  and 
the  virtuous  would  stimulate  with  a  bounty." 

At  the  same  time  a  memorial  of  similar  import  was  pre- 
sented from  the  sugar-refiners;  and,  by  way  of  giving  strength 
to  these  representations,  a  meeting  of  the  tobacconists  and  su- 
gar-refiners [as  droll  a  combination  of  traders,  if  one  looks  at 
the  commodities  they  deal  in,  as  is  easily  to  be  imagined,]  was 
held  on  the  7th  day  of  May,  at  which  it  was,  amongst  other 
things — 

Resolved,  That,  on  a  retrospective  view  of  the  taxes  on  the 
various  manufactures  of  Europe,  scarce  any,  and  not  even  the 
article  of  bread,  is  exempt ;  and,  as  the  present  measure  ap- 
pears an  imitation  of  the  policy  of  the  said  governments,  it 
therefore  becomes  a  general  concern  to  the  manufacturing  in- 
terest of  this  country. 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  be  appointed  to  invite  to  a  ge- 
neral meeting  all  the  manufacturers  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia 
and  its  vicinity,  who  may  be  of  opinion  that  an  extension  of  the 
said  contemplated  law  may  affect  their  rights  and  interests,  in 
order  to  present  to  the  view  of  that  Honourable  House  the  de- 
structive consequences  attending  the  completion  of  such  a  law, 
and  of  which  we  conceive  they  are  not  sufficiently  aware. 

Accordingly  there  appeared,  on  the  following  day,  a  notice, 
of  which  the  following  is  a  copy: 

EXCISE — Citizens  Attend  ! ! — Whereas  a  proposition  has 
been  adopted  by  the  House  of  Representatives  of  Congress,  for 
imposing  an  excise  upon  two  of  the  domestic  manufactures  of 
the  United  States — (tobacco  and  snuff",  and  refined  sugar) — ■ 
and,  besides  the  fatal  consequences  inevitably  attending  the  im- 
mediate objects  of  the  tax,  it  is  justly  apprehended  that  this  pre- 
cedent will  hereafter  be  employed  to  countenance  similar  ex- 
cises, till,  by  insidious  and  successive  impositions,  every  art 
and  manufactory  will  be  involved  in  a  system  forever  odious 
to  freemen,  dangerous  to  liberty,  pernicious  to  morals,  and  de- 
st>-uctive  of  industry.  And  whereas  it  is  the  duty,  as  well  as 
the  interest,  of  all  good  citizens,  to  resist,  by  every  peaceable 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  315 

and  constitutional  method,  the  first  attempts  to  introduce  into 
the  administration  of  a  free  government  those  oppressive  regu- 
lations, which  never  fail  to  acquire  irresistible  force  from  the 
increase  of  their  number,  and  the  length  of  their  continuance: 

In  order,  therefore,  to  obtain  the  common  sentiments  and  co- 
operation of  the  manufacturers  of  Philadelphia,  in  support  of 
their  common  cause,  all  the  manufacturers  of  malt,  hops,  beer, 
ale,  and  cider,  of  tobacco,  and  snuff,  of  sugar,  of  starch,  and 
hair-powder,  of  chocolate  and  cocoa  paste,  of  vinegar,  of  glass, 
of  candles  and  soap,  of  paper  and  pasteboard,  of  leather  and 
skins,  of  iron,  &c.,  &c.,  and  all  other  manufacturers  whatsoever, 
together  with  such  other  citizens  as  justly  condemn  the  imposi- 
tion of  excises  upon  the  infant  manufactories  of  America,  are 
earnestly  requested  to  assemble,  at  the  State-House,  at  5  o'clock 
this  afternoon,  to  devise  and  pursue  such  lawful  measures  as  the 
nature  of  the  case  may  require. — Philadelphia,  May,  8,  1794. 

In  pursuance  of  this  notice,  a  meeting  took  place,  at  which 
sundry  resolutions  were  adopted,  and  copies  were  ordered  to 
be  transmitted  to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  the 
Speaker  of  the  House,  denouncing  the  proposed  excise  as 
"  unjust,  impolitic,  oppressive,  dangerous,  and  unnecessary." 
Petitions  were  also  again  sent  on  to  Congress,  from  the  sugar- 
refiners  and  the  tobacconists,  remonstrating,  in  the  strongest 
terms,  against  the  proposed  measure.  On  the  19th  of  May  a 
memorial  from  the  tobacconists  of  Baltimore  was  also  sent  in. 
The  effect  of  this  perseverance  was  the  striking  out  of  the  to- 
bacco bill,  the  excise  upon  tobacco ;  but  the  majority  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  remained  as  inexorable  to  the  en- 
treaties of  the  petitioners  in  reference  to  the  excise  upon  snuflf 
and  loaf-sugar,  as  the  present  majority  of  Congress  has  been 
to  the  entreaties  of  the  blacksmiths,  whose  sufierings  are  quite 
as  great,  under  a  tax  differing  from  an  excise  only  in  name. 
The  bills  were  passed  by  that  body ;  but  the  tobacconists  and 
sugar-refiners,  with  a  devotion  to  the  principles  of  liberty  as 
truly  Virginian  as  the  commodity  in  which  the  former  were 
accustomed  to  deal,  sent  in  a  petition,  on  the  26th  of  May,  to 
the  Senate,  urging  that  body  to  arrest  the  passage  of  the  bill. 
In  this  attempt  also  they  failed,  and  they  then  deputed  a  com- 
mittee to  confer  with  a  committee  of  the  Senate,  with  no  bet- 
ter success ;  and  then,  as  a  last  resort,  they  presented  a  memo- 
rial to  President  Washington,  beseeching  him  to  exercise  his 
constitutional  negative,  by  putting  his  veto  on  the  two  bills. 
This  request  was  not  acceded  to  by  the  President,  and  the  bills 
became  laws. 

After  such  repeated  discomfitures,  had  the  petitioners  been 
merchants  or  farmers  cf  the  present  day,  they  would  have 
abandoned  the  cause  as  a  forlorn  hope.  But  not  so  with  those 
manufacturers.     With  the  true  spirit  of  fi-eemcn,  who  spurned 


316  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

at  the  idea  of  a  partial  and  oppressive  taxation,  who  "  asked 
not  an  exemption  from  taxes,  but  a  security  from  outrage — 
who  sought  not  to  be  less  exposed,  in  occupation,  fortune,  or 
person,  than  their  fellow-citizens,  but  insisted  tiiat  they  ought 
not  to  be  more,"  as  they  said  to  the  Senate — they  tried  another 
channel  for  redress.  In  September,  of  that  same  year,  they 
sent  into  the  Legislature  of  Pennsyh^ania  a  strong  petition, 
calling  upon  that  body  to  aid  them  in  the  recovery  of  their 
rights. 

The  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  took  no  step  in  consequence 
of  this  petition — but  the  manufacturers  were  not  thereby  de- 
terred from  prosecuting  their  claims  for  redress.  Soon  after 
the  meeting  of  Congress,  in  the  following  December,  a  report 
was  made,  by  a  committee  of  the  House,  recommending,  as 
one  of  the  means  of  paying  off  the  J\'ational  Debt,  the  continu- 
ance of  the  excises  on  refined  sugar  and  snuff.  Much  time 
did  not  elapse  before  the  voice  of  the  sugar-refiners  and  tobac- 
conists was  again  heai'd  in  their  hall,  in  the  form  of  remon- 
strances, urging  anew  the  repeal  of  the  odious  taxes.  The  su- 
gar-refiners, in  urging  their  claims,  employed  the  following 
emphatic  and  sound  argument :  "  The  sole  objects  which  in- 
duce to  the  formation  of  government,  are,  protection  of  person 
and  property,  the  inculcation  of  morality,  and  encouragement 
to  the  arts.  In  these  considerations  is  government  a  blessing. 
But  these  objects  are  completely  destroyed,  and  we  return  to  a 
state  worse  than  that  in  which  we  were  before  the  formation 
of  the  social  compact,  w  hen  the  taxes  for  the  support  of  that 
government  are  apportioned  grossly  unequal."  We  recom- 
mend this  passage  to  the  perusal  of  the  manufacturers  of  the 
present  day,  for  the  sentiment  is  as  true  now  as  it  was  then, 
and  perhaps  they  may  draw  from  it  a  little  of  the  moral  in- 
struction which  they  so  much  need.  The  remonstrance  of  the 
tobacconists  also  contained  some  sensible  reflections,  and  urged 
upon  Congress,  as  the  most  equitable  mode  of  collecting  a  re- 
venue, a  tax  on  estates,  real  and  personal — and  concluded  by 
expressing  their  willingness  "  to  subscribe  and  pay,  by  reason- 
able instalments,  their  several  proportions  of  the  public  debt,- 
or  to  submit  with  cheerfulness  to  any  general  system. of  taxa- 
tion on  property  of  every  description,  operating  equally  on  all 
classes  of  citizens,  in  proportion  to  their  means,  for  the  speedy 
liberation  of  their  country  from  the  weight  and  danger  of  the 
public  burdens." 

To  give  force  and  effect  to  these  new  representations,  the 
pamphlet  before  us  was  written  and  published.  It  contained, 
in  detail,  all  the  transactions  of  which  we  have  given  the  above 
brief  outline,  together  with  copies  of  the  various  petitions  re- 
ferred to,  and  a  full  account  of  the  Excise  System,  as  it  ope- 
rated in  Great  Britain,  supported  by  sound  and  conclusive  rea- 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  317 

soning.  It  demonstrated,  from  the  experience  of  other  coun- 
tries, the  demoralization  produced  by  high  duties,  in  leading 
to  purjury  and  smuggling,  and  showed,  most  clearly,  the  in- 
justice of  all  partial  taxation. 

The  petition  of  the  sugar-refiners  met  with  no  success,  and 
the  excise  was  continued  until  the  30th  June,  1802,  after  the 
election  of  Mr.  Jeflerson  to  the  presidency,  when  it  was  re- 
pealed. The  snufi-makers  had  better  luck:  in  1795  the' ex- 
cise was  taken  off,  and  in  place  of  it  a  duty  was  imposed  upon 
all  mills  employed  in  the  manufacture  of  snuff — In  1790  this  lavv 
was  suspended,  and,  subsequently  again,  in  1797,  and  on  the  24th 
of  April  of  that  year  it  was  repealed.  The  ground  of  this  aban- 
donment of  the  duty  was,  perhaps,  more  owing  to  the  opera- 
lions  of  fraud,  than  in  regard  to  the  representations  of  the  to- 
bacconists. By  the  first  law  a  drawback  was  allowed  upon 
snuff  exported,  equal  to  the  duty,  and  by  the  second  law  a 
drawback  of  six  cents  per  pound.  In  1795  it  turned  out,  that, 
whilst  the  gross  amount  of  duties  was  $20,000,  the  drawbacks 
amounted  to  $25,000. 

In  this  pamphlet  one  of  the  matters  which  struck  us  most 
forcibly,  w  as,  that,  in  no  part  of  it,  did  the  manufacturers  rest 
their  claims  for  protection,  upon  any  other  act  of  the  govern- 
ment, than  merely  keeping  its  hands  off.  The  argument  was, 
"  We  do  not  wish  you  to  tax  other  people  for  our  benefit — wo 
want  merely  to  be  exempt  from  being  borne  down  by  partial 
taxation."  In  one  of  the  resolutions  adopted  at  the  town-meet- 
ing it  was  expressly  asserted — "  On  the  exertions  of  individu- 
als, America  must,  after  all,  rely  for  her  manufactures."  An 
example  of  the  exercise  of  the  right  by  a  State,  to  protect  ma- 
nufactures, is  furnished  in  this  pamphlet,  in  the  following  words  : 

When  a  manufactory  was  to  be  established  at  Patterson,  in 
New  Jersey,  Mr.  Alexander  Hamilton,  one  of  its  founders,  did 
not  think  that  his  institution  could  bear  excessive  burdens.  He 
drew  an  act,  passed  for  its  QwconvdigcmcxM  by  tit  at  State,  of  date 
the  22d  of  November,  1791,  and  which  fills  more  than  sixteen 
folio  pages.  By  the  fourth  clause,  the  lands,  tenements,  goods, 
and  chattels  of  the  society,  were  exempted  from  all  taxes  levied 
by  the  state  for  ten  years.  The  manufacturers  themselves  had 
numerous  privileges.  Among  others,  they  were,  by  the  fifth 
clause,  exempted  "  from  all  poll  and  capitation  taxes,  and  taxes 
on  their  respective  faculties  or  occupations,  and  from  all  taxes 
in  the  nature  of  general  assessments."  By  the  twenty-fiflh  sec- 
tion the  society  were  empowered  to  raise  an  hundred  thousand 
dollars  by  way  of  lottery. 

Another  fact  is  also  striking  in  the  history  of  the  revenue 
system,  afforded  by  this  pamphlet.  Why  was  so  odious  a  sys- 
tem of  taxation  resorted  to,  at  the  hazard  of  a  rebellion,  when 
the  duties  upon  imported  commodities  were  so  very  low  as 
2D* 


318  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

they  were  in  1794,  when  cotton  goods  paid  but  15  per  cent., 
woollen  but  10,  iron  but  15,  and  most  other  articles  proportion- 
ably  low  1  It  was  because  the  good  sense  of  the  nation  knew 
that  high  duties  prevent  imports,  and  that  the  obstruction  of 
imports  prevents  exports.  Had  our  legislators  of  1794  been 
of  the  school  of  the  American  System,  they  would  have  risked 
no  rebellions,  but  have  shewn  the  deluded  people  that  high  du- 
ties make  goods  cheap,  and  augment  exports. 


ESSAY    No.   XCVIII. 

APRIL  20,  1831. 


Tlie  American  System  fallacy,  illustrated  by  the  motion  of  a 
steamboat. 

"  FATHER,"  said  a  little  boy  the  other  day,  who  was  stand- 
ing on  the  wharf  looking  at  a  steamboat  coming  doivn  the 
North  river  at  the  rate  of  nine  or  ten  miles  an  hour,  "  only  see 
how  fast  the  tide  makes  that  steamboat  sail."  "  Don't  you  see, 
my  son,"  said  the  gentleman  who  had  him  by  the  hand,  "  that 
the  tide  is  running  up  'i  Only  look  at  that  board  floating  on  the 
water,  and  you  will  see  that  the  power  of  the  tide  is  to  make 
the  steamboat  go  the  other  way.  What  you  see  is  not  the  ef- 
fect of  the  tide;  it  is  impossible  that  the  tide  can  produce  a 
motion  opposed  to  its  own  direction."  The  little  boy  replied, 
"  Well,  but  father,  I  do  not  see  any  body  pushing  the  steam- 
boat, and  I  don't  know  what  it  can  be  that  makes  it  go  if  it 
isn't  the  tide." 

This  idea  was  quite  excuseable  in  a  child,  but  when  we  see 
grown  persons,  or  rather  big  children,  entertain  the  same  opi- 
nions, we  cannot  so  readily  excuse  them.  The  little  boy's 
argument  is  the  precise  argument  of  the  tariff  party.  The 
tariff  is  the  flood-tide,  the  sole  tendency  and  power  of  which 
is,  to  make  the  prices  of  commodities  go  up.  The  steam-power 
is  the  counteracting  influence  of  improvements  in  labour-saving 
machinery,  and  increased  skill  resulting  from  the  march  of 
knowledge,  science,  and  philosophy,  all  of  which  have  a  ten- 
dency to  carry  prices  dovm,  and  their  combined  force  being 
much  greater  than  that  of  the  tariff,  they  overcome  its  resist- 
ance. When  any  man,  therefore,  insists  upon  it,  that  the  tariflT 
makes  prices  fall,  his  powers  of  reasoning  are  not  one  grade 
superior  to  those  of  the  little  boy  above-mentioned,  and  he  may 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  31.9 

be  literally  said  to  cry  out,  "  I  don't  know  what  it  can  be  that 
makes  it  go  if  it  isn't  the  tide." 

Now  any  one  may  see,  with  half  an  eye,  that  if  it  were  not 
for  the  opposing  tide,  the  above-mentioned  steamboat  would 
have  gone  much  faster  than  she  did;  and  so  it  is  with  the 
tariff.  It  prevents  things  from  being  as  cheap  as  they  would 
otherwise  be,  and  has  had  no  more  to  do  with  the  fall  in  prices 
which  has  taken  place  since  the  year  1810,  than  the  tide  had  to 
do  with  carrying  the  little  boy's  steamboat  against  its  own  cur- 
rent. 

We  are  glad  to  see  that  the  people  are  beginning  to  have 
their  eyes  opened  on  this  subject,  and,  if  they  would  only  read 
over  the  list  of  250  articles  published  by  us,  not  long  since, 
under  the  head  of  "  Politics  for  Farmers,"  comprising  all  de- 
scriptions of  foreign  and  domestic  productions,  every  one  of 
which,  with  only  a  dozen  exceptions,  had  fallen  in  price  since 
1810,  whether  subject  to  high  duties,  or  low  duties,  or  no  duties 
at  all,  they  would  no  longer  believe  that,  when  the  tide  is  run- 
ning up,  it  can  carry  things  down. 


ESSAY   No.  XCIX. 

MAY   4,    1831. 

Injliience  of  a  judicious  expenditure  of  capital  upon  the  welfare 
of  society.  Comparison  of  the  three  modes  in  which  incomes 
are  usually  expended. 

IN  our  paper  of  to-day  will  be  found  an  Address,  deliverf'd 
before  the  Agricultural  Society  of  Berkshire  county,  in  Mas- 
sachusetts, in  October  last.  It  contains  many  sensible  reflec- 
tions, conveyed  in  agreeable  language,  adapted  to  the  compre- 
hension of  every  one,  and  displays,  on  the  part  of  the  orator, 
an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  operation  of  a  judicious  ex- 
penditure of  capital,  upon  the  welfare  of  a  community. 

This  subject  is  one  which  is  not  sufficiently  adverted  to  by 
the  great  mass  of  the  people.  Every  body  knows,  that  em- 
ployment promotes  the  general  prosperity,  but  few  take  the 
trouble  of  thinking  upon  the  radical  diflercnce  which  exists 
between  diflerent  sorts  of  employment.  And  yet  there  is  as 
much  diversity  in  the  ultimate  effects  produced  by  different 
species  of  employment,  as  there  is  in  those  resulting  from  dif- 
ferent climates  or  soils.  We  shall  illustrate  what  we  mean,  by 
drawing  the  outlines  of  three  distinct  individual  characters, 
eich  of  whom  we  will  suppose  to  be  possessed  of  a  clear  in- 
come of  ten  thousand  dollars  per  annum. 


320  ESSAYS     ON    THE     PRINCIPLES 

Tom  is  a  gay  fashionable  man,  who  lives  in  a  house  which 
costs  him  two  thousand  dollars  per  annum  rent.  A  further 
sum  of  three  thousand  dollars  per  annum  is  expended  in  the 
s-ubstantial  objects  which  belong  to  the  support  and  comfort  of 
every  wealthy  family — leaving  him  a  surplus  of  five  thousand 
dollars,  which  he  may  cx])end  as  his  fancy  inclines  him.  With 
this  sum  he  pays  the  wages  and  maintenance  of  a  house  full  of 
servants.  He  has  his  footman,  butler,  and  French  cook — he 
has  a  barber  to  shave  him,  and  a  valet  to  brush  his  coat.  He 
gives  dinner  parties  and  balls,  and  by  his  expenditure  gives 
abundant  employment  to  the  manufacturers  of  pastry,  confec- 
tionary, and  ice-creams.  He  frequents  concerts  and  theatres, 
and  thus  encourages  the  industry  of  musicians  and  play-actors 
— and,  at  the  end  of  the  year,  he  felicitates  himself  upon  the  be- 
nefit his  expenditures  have  been  to  society,  by  reflecting  that  he 
has  given  employment  to  a  great  many  people ;  and  that  he  has 
done  so,  no  one  can  doubt. 

Dick  is  a  plain  domestic  man,  but,  being  wealthy,  and  con- 
sidering himself  bound  to  live  like  a  gentleman,  he  also  ex- 
pends in  rent  and  substantials  his  five  thousand  dollars  a  year. 
But  he  diflfers  from  Tom  in  his  mode  of  expenditure  of  the  ba- 
lance. He  chooses  to  employ  cabinet-makers  to  add  new  ar- 
ticles to  his  furniture,  painters  to  furnish  pictures  for  his  rooms, 
printers  and  book-binders  to  increase  his  library,  carpenters 
and  masons  to  extend  his  buildings.  He  also  consoles  himself 
with  the  reflection  that  he  has  given  employment  to  a  great 
many  people,  although  to  people  of  a  difl!erent  description  from 
those  maintained  by  Tom. 

Harry  is  also  a  liberal  gentleman,  and,  like  the  two  others, 
expends  the  one-half  of  his  income  in  rent  and  substantial  com- 
forts. He  differs,  however,  from  both,  in  regard  to  his  expen- 
diture of  the  other  half  He  too  gives  employment  to  a  great 
number  of  people,  but  it  is  by  setting  them  at  work  in  plough- 
ing his  land,  or  in  navigating  his  ships. 

Now,  if  it  be  supposed  that  each  of  these  persons  shall  have 
given  employment,  throughout  the  year,  by  the  expenditure  of 
the  second  five  thousand  dollars  a  piece,  to  the  same  number 
of  individuals,  it  will  follow,  that,  as  regards  the  immediate  ef- 
fect produced  upon  the  condition  of  the  latter,  the  result  is  the 
same ;  and  hence  it  is  that  those  who  do  not  look  further  than 
immediate  eflTects,  are  not  able  to  discover  wherein  the  one 
mode  of  employment  has  been  less  beneficial  than  another. 
That  there  is,  however,  a  vast  difll^rence  in  the  ultimate  condi- 
tion of  these  very  people,  as  well  as  of  all  the  rest  of  the  com- 
munity, according  as  the  one  or  the  other  system  of  expendi- 
ture is  adopted,  can  easily  be  shown,  and  wc  shall  proceed  to 
point  it  out. 

In  the  first  place,  as  regards  7'o.ti.     Of  his  five  thousand  dol- 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  321 

lars  there  is  not  a  vestige  remaining.  It  is  true  that  the  actaal 
money  which  he  paid  away,  in  coin  or  bank  notes,  has  not 
been  destroyed,  but  is  still  in  existence,  in  the  hands  of  some- 
body else,  in  the  same  manner  that  the  money  expended  by 
Dick  and  Harry  is  still  in  existence  ;  but  the  quid  pi-o  quo 
which  he  received  in  exchange  for  his  money  has  entirely  va- 
nished. It  is  impossible  to  accumulate  the  product  of  that  sort 
of  industry  which  consists  in  riding  behind  a  coach,  drawing 
bottles  of  wine,  standing  behind  one's  chair  at  table,  cooking 
savoury  dishes,  shaving  a  grizly  beard,  or  brushing  a  gentle- 
man's coat.  It  is  impossible  to  accumulate,  for  future  use,  the 
products  of  the  industry  of  musicians  or  play-actors — and  w  hat 
has  become  of  his  dinners,  his  pastry,  his  confectionary,  and  his 
ice-creams  ?  All,  all  annihilated — so  that  it  is  plain,  that,  for  all 
his  vast  expenditure,  he  has  nothing  to  show  for  it;  and,  if  he 
wants  to  carry  on  the  same  course  for  another  year,  he  can 
only  do  it  by  means  of  another  five  thousand  dollars. 

Let  us  now  examine  into  Dick's  circumstances  at  the  end  of 
the  year.  He  will  be  found  to  be  better  off  than  Tom — he  has 
something  to  show  for  his  money,  which  is  capable  of  admi- 
nistering to  his  future  gratification — he  has  a  larger  house,  more 
extensively  furnished  and  ornamented  with  paintings,  which 
every  time  they  are  looked  at  infuse  a  degree  of  satisfaction — 
he  has  his  library  enlarged  by  a  new  stock  of  books,  and  his 
mind  of  course  furnished  with  fresh  sources  of  knowledge.  It 
is  true  he  cannot  apply  these  articles  to  the  maintenance  of  the 
same  people  another  year,  but  he  must  do  this  with  another 
five  thousand  dollars  ;  but  any  one  may  see  that  he  is  better 
off"  than  Tom,  precisely  to  the  extent  of  the  value,  whatev^er 
that  may  be,  of  what  he  has  to  show  for  his  money. 

Lastly,  we  come  to  examine  the  result  of  Harry's  expendi- 
ture. It  will  be  recollected  that  he  expended  precisely  the 
same  sum  as  Tom  and  Dick,  and  contributed  to  the  support  of 
exactly  as  many  people.  His  money,  too,  is  still  in  the  hands 
of  others,  undestroyed ;  and  what  has  he  to  show  for  it  ?  Why, 
a  barn  full  of  grain,  or  a  ship  full  of  merchandise,  worth  more 
than  the  five  thousand  dollars  which  he  expended,  and  consti- 
tuting a  fund;  capable,  by  its  being  annually  applied  in  the 
same  way,  and  its  being  annually  reproduced,  to  maintain  for- 
ever the  same  or  a  greater  number  of  people — leaving  his  in- 
come of  each  future  year  free,  to  be  applied  to  the  employment 
and  support  of  another  set  of  labourers. 

From  this  statement  of  the  case,  it  may  be  easily  seen  how 
important  it  is  to  a  community,  whether  money  be  expended 
in  one  mode  or  another.  But,  in  presenting  the  question,  we 
are  far  from  wishing  to  be  understood  as  laying  down  fixed 
rules  for  the  expenditure  of  capital.  Every  man  has  an  un- 
doubted right  to  do  as  he  pleases  with  what  is  his  own,  and 


322  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

we  are  not  unaware  that,  in  a  wealthy  and  complicated  state 
of  society,  there  must  needs  be  vast  expenditures,  where  the 
equivalent  given  in  exchange  is  consumed  at  the  very  moment 
of  production,  without  the  possibility  of  ever  again  appearing 
in  any  other  form.  Our  illustration  was  mainl}'  designed  to 
show  that  that  prejudice  which  exists  against  some  rich  men 
of  economical  habits,  because  they  do  not  live  in  style  and  ex- 
pend large  sums  in  entertainments,  equipages,  and  retinues,  is 
ill-founded,  however  honest  it  may  be,  if  it  have  for  its  basis  a 
belief  that  such  individuals  do  not  contribute  as  much  towards 
the  support  of  the  poor  as  their  more  liberal  and  fashionable 
neighbours. 


ESSAY     No.    C, 

MAY   4,    1831. 


Remarlis  on  an  Address  of  a  member  of  Congress,  from  Maryland. 
Folly  exposed,  of  the  doctrine  that  ive  pay  money  for  British 
goods.  Imports  and  exports  of  gold  and  silver  for  Jive  years. 
Exports  to  the  British  West  Indies. 

THE  following  is  an  extract  from  an  Address  to  his  consti- 
tuents, lately  published  by  one  of  the  Representatives  in  Con- 
gress from  the  state  of  Maryland : 

"  I  am  a  decided  advocate  for  the  protection  of  American  in- 
dustry, and  for  distributing  among  our  own  mechanics,  manu- 
facturers, and  labourers,  those  millions  of  dollars  which  we  have 
annually  bestowed  on  the  artisans  and  labour  of  foreign  na- 
tions, especially  England,  who  refuses  to  take  the  wheat,  corn, 
and  tobacco,  of  our  agriculturists,  in  exchange  for  their  manu- 
factures, and  require  to  be  paid  in  our  hard-earned  dollars. 

"  The  creation  of  a  home-market  is  ihe  natural  result  of  the 
protective  system.  A  single  fact  will  illustrate  its  value.  The 
small  manufacturing  state  of  Rhode  Island  purchases  more  of 
our  flour  than  all  the  British  West  India  islands." 

When  we  see  such  absurdities  as  these  put  forth  at  this  late 
day,  by  a  member  of  Congress,  we  almost  lose  our  patience, 
and  are  half  inclined  to  the  opinion  that  the  time  for  over- 
throwing the  restrictive  system,  by  argument  and  reason,  has 
passed.  If  men,  who  are  elected  to  legislative  stations,  are  not 
only  deficient  in  the  very  elementary  principles  of  the  science 
of  government,  but  persevere  in  their  ignorance,  although  they 
have  within  their  reach  the  means  of  acquiring  a  correct  know- 
ledge of  it,  and  advance  such  crudities  as  is  contained  in  the 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  323 

foregoing  paragraphs,  we  know  not  how  those  who  occupy  in- 
ferior stations  can  ever  be  made  to  embrace  the  truth. 

The  honourable  member  seems  to  suppose,,  that  we  pay  in 
hard  dollars  for  every  thing  we  import  from  England.  Perhaps 
the  best  way  to  disprove  this  fallacy  will  be  to  show  the  amount 
of  specie  imported  and  exported  during  the  last  five  years,  from 
and  to  all  parts  of  the  world,  as  is  done  in  the  following  table, 
being  from  the  latest  published  Treasury  Reports : 

Imports. 

GOLD.  SILVER. 

1.825  -  -  -  ^378,257  -  -  -  $5,252,661 

1826  -  -  -  562,546  -  -  -  5,740,139 

1827  -  -  -  1,019,399  -  -  -  6,618,077 

1828  -  -  -  738,570  -  -  -  6,216,458 

1829  -  -  -  706,028  -  -  -  5,749,839 


$3,404,800 

$29,577,174 
Exports. 

GOLD. 

SILVER. 

1825     - 

-       -     $315,672 

-     -     -     $8,470,534 

1826     - 

-       -        434,555 

-     -     -        3,623,385 

1827     - 

-       -        820,304 

-     -     -        6,139,155 

1828     - 

-      -        928,384 

-     -     -        6,565,804 

1829     - 

-      -        935,102 

-     -     -        3,136,941 

$3,434,017  $27,935,819 

From  the  foregoing  statement  it  appears,  that  the  imports,  m 
five  years,  of  gold  and  silver  coin,  amounted  to      $32,981,974 
And  the  exports,  in  the  same  five  years,  to     -        31,368,836 

Showing  an  excess  of  imports  over  exports,  of  $  1,613,138 
This  is  what  the  American  System  philosophers  caJ]  drain- 
ing the  country  of  its  specie,  and  which  silly  doctrine  the  Mary- 
land member  appears  to  have  adopted.  The  operation  of  it  is 
this.  We  export  our  products  to  the  countries  where  gold  and 
silver  are  produced,  or  where  they  happen  to  be  the  most  pro- 
fitable articles  of  merchandise  which  our  merchants  can  pro- 
cure in  exchange  for  their  cargoes.  After  they  are  brought 
home,  not  being  called  for  by  the  wants  of  the  currency,  the 
channels  of  circulation  being  already  filled  up  with  other  coin 
and  bank  notes,  they  are  exported,  and  for  precisely  the  same 
reason  that  they  were  imported,  because  they  happen  to  be,  at 
the  time,  the  most  profitable  articles  of  merchandise  which  are 
offered  in  the  market.  Nobody  ever  brings  coin  into  the  coun- 
try, or  takes  it  out,  if  any  other  article  of  merchandise  offers  a 
better  profit.  No  merchant,  in  his  trade,  prefers  coin  to  other 
commodities,  because  all  other  commodities  pay  a  better  freight 
for  his  vessels,  by  occupying  more  space ;  and  any  man  who 


324 


ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 


supposes  that  coin  is  brought  home  if  any  thing  else  will  give  a 

profit,  knows  nothing  of  commerce. 

As  to  the  proportion  of  the  above  amount  of  coin  that  was 

exported,  during  the  five  years,  to  Great  Britain,  we  have  no 

documents  at  hand  to  show,  except  for  the  last  two  years. 
In  the  year  1828  it  was  -         -         -         -        2,292,775 

In  the  year  1829  it  was  ....  542,446 


Making,  in  all,         -      $2,835,221 
Which  was  very  little  more  than  double  the  quantity  export- 
ed, in  the  same  time,  to  the  little  island  of  Cuba,  which,  in  the 

year  1828,  amounted  to 784,978 

In  the  vear  1829,  to 525,144 


$1,310,122 

This  simple  statement,  we  should  think,  ought  to  be  suffi- 
cient to  satisfy  any  man,  who  really  desires  to  know  the  truth, 
of  the  utter  silliness  of  any  argument  which  is  founded  upon 
the  slang — for  slang  it  is,  and  nothing  else — that  w^e  export  our 
dollars  to  pay  for  foreign  goods.  If  it  was  not  for  their  ex- 
portation, they  would  not  be  imported.  It  is  the  very  fact  that 
coin  may  be  wanted  for  exportation,  that  renders  it  a  desi- 
rable commodity  to  bring  home — and  nothing  is  clearer,  than 
that  if  the  exportation  of  coin  could  be  effectually  prohibited, 
by  some  contrivance  never  yet  discovered,  it  would  not  be  im- 
ported, but  would  be  transported  from  one  place  abroad  to  an- 
other {)lace  abroad.  Instead  of  importing  dollars  from  Mexico, 
as  we  now  do,  they  would  be  sent  direct  to  Cuba,  England,  and 
France,  and  the  other  countries  to  which  we  now  export  them. 

As  to  the  refusal  of  Great  Britain  to  take  our  corn,  flour, 
and  tobacco,  the  assertion  is  not  literally  correct.  All  that  can 
be  truly  said  on  the  subject  is,  that  her  policy  exhibits,  on  the 
part  of  her  rulers,  the  same  consummate  folly  that  ours  does 
on  the  })art  of  our  rulers,  seeing  that  the  British  corn-laws  a-nd 
the  American  System  are  of  the  same  family,  and  equally  con- 
spiracies against  the  interests  of  the  working  classes,  and  de- 
signed to  increase  the  wealth  of  the  aristocracy.  She  does  ad- 
mit our  corn,  flour,  and  tobacco,  but  under  high  duties ; — but, 
if  she  chooses  to  compel  her  people  to  eat  dear  bread,  and  to 
chew  dear  tobacco,  or  smoke  dear  segars,  is  that  any  reason 
why  our  Congress  should  compel  the  American  people  to  wear 
dear  clothes,  eat  dear  sugar,  and  build  ships,  steam-engines, 
and  machinery,  with  dear  iron  1 

How  the  honourable  member  found  out  that  Rhode  Island 
purchases  more  flour  from  the  grain-growing  states,  than  all 
the  British  West  India  islands,  we  are  not  able  to  ascertain. 
Every  body  knows  that  until  lately  those  islands  were  closed 
to  our  commerce,  and  we  think  it  w'ould  be  no  easy  matter  to 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  325 

procure  such  information  as  would  enable  any  one  to  lay  down 
so  dogmatical  a  proposition,  without  proof.  Pray,  can  the 
gentleman  tell  us  how  much  flour  Rhode  Island  imports  from 
the  middle  states  1  We  doubt  very  much  if  she  consumes  fifty 
thousand  barrels  in  a  year ;  whereas,  the  British  West  Indies 
consumed,  in  the  year 

1 823  -     11 0,775  barrels  flour,  and  2 1 0,905  bushels  corn. 

1824  -     120,239         "         "  193,003        " 

1825  -     114,626         "         "  179,175        "         " 

1826  -     133,619         "         "  159,507        " 

And  the  quantity  would,  by  this  time,  probably  have  been 
doubled,  had  it  not  been  for  our  wise  system  of  thinking,  that 
no  bread  at  all  is  better  than  half  a  loaf  What  they  may 
hereafter  consume  may  perhaps  appear  from  the  following  ex- 
tracts : 

West  India  Trade. — Between  the  1st  and  15th  of  February, 
seventeen  vessels  from  the  United  States  arrived  at  Barbadoes, 
with  cargoes  ;  of  this  number  fourteen  were  American  vessels, 
and  the  remainder  British.  The  greater  number  came  to  an 
entry — the  others  went  on. — Bermuda  p ape?: 

West  India  Trade. — The  Richmond  Enquirer  mentions,  that, 
in  the  Virginia  House  of  delegates,  Mr.  Maxwell,  "  the  elo- 
quent and  ingenious  delegate  of  the  borough  of  Norfolk,"  had 
stated,  in  a  speech  on  the  Pilot  bill,  this  striking  fact,  that,  since 
the  recent  opening  of  the  West  India  trade,  thirty  vessels  had 
cleared  in  one  month,  from  Norfolk,  for  the  West  Indies — a 
fact  as  strongly  indicative  of  the  growing  prosperity  of  Norfolk, 
as  it  is  creditable  to  the  present  administration. — JV.  Y.  Evening 
Post. 


ESSAY   No.    CI 


MAY   4,    1831. 

JVature  of  the  war  earned  on  between  the  friends  of  free  trade 
and  their  opponents.  Who  are  the  parties  arrayed  on  each 
side. 

THE  war  at  this  day  carried  on  throughout  the  world  be- 
tween the  advocates  of  Free  Trade  and  the  Restrictive  Sys- 
tem, is  one  in  reality  in  which  the  principle  contended  for,  is, 
whether  goods  shall  be  cheap  or  dear ;  whether  the  people 
shall  have  two  loaves  of  bread  at  their  dinner,  or  one ;  two 
suits  of  clothes  to  their  backs,  or  one.  On  the  side  of  Free- 
Trade,  although  they  may  not  know  it,  are  arraved,  all  the 
2E 


326  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

philosophers,  who  by  their  studies  and  researches  into  the  hid- 
den branches  of  knowledge  are  every  day  drawing  out  fresh 
treasures  of  wisdom,  which  are  freely  spread  before  the  hu- 
man family,  that  each  individual  may  profit  by  their  discove- 
ries ;  all  the  men  of  science  and  mechanical  genius,  who  are 
constantly  occupied  in  inventing  labour-saving  machinery,  by 
which  the  products  of  industry,  whether  employed  in  agricul- 
ture, commerce  or  manufactures,  may  be  attainable  with  less 
labour  than  before  ;  all  the  industrious  classes — farmers,  me- 
chanics, navigators,  merchants,  artisans,  and  manufacturers, 
who  by  increased  skill  in  their  business,  closer  application,  and 
the  observance  of  economy  in  time  and  expenditure,  are  every 
moment  increasing  the  productive  powers  of  land  and  labour. 
On  the  same  side  are  enrolled,  all  the  statesmen  of  Europe  and 
America,  who  truly  deserve  that  appellation,  and  all  the  phi- 
lanthropists who  are  occupied  in  those  unceasing  exertions  to 
better  the  condition  of  the  poor,  which  we  see  every  where 
exhibited :  In  fine,  on  the  side  of  Free  Trade  are  to  be  found, 
all  those,  in  every  part  of  the  world,  who  understand  the  true 
nature  of  liberty,  and  who  exert  themselves  to  estabhsh  its  true 
principles,  in  order  that  the  whole  human  family  may  enjoy 
the  greatest  possible  extent  of  comforts  and  blessings  which 
their  labour  is  capable  of  producing. 

On  the  restrictive  side  are  to  be  found,  in  every  country, 
the  monopolists  of  every  description,  from  the  man  who  fives 
as  the  great  landlords  of  England  do,  by  plundering  the  poor 
man  of  half  his  loaf,  to  the  man  who  robs  him  of  one  of  his 
coats,  or  insists  upon  it  that  he  shall  have  but  half  a  spoonful 
of  sugar  to  his  cup  of  tea,  that  they  may  ride  in  coaches,  and 
riot  in  luxury.  On  the  same  side  are  to  be  found  no  small 
number  of  honest  but  deluded  people,  who,  for  want  of  oppor- 
tunity, or  the  ability  to  examine  abstract  and  difficult  questions, 
have  been  led  into  error — and  a  host  of  politicians  and  quack 
statesmen,  who,  having  no  knowledge  of  the  subject  of  politi- 
cal philosophy,  seize  upon  the  Restrictive  System  as  a  hobby 
upon  which  they  may  ride  into  power.  To  this  party  also  be- 
long, in  this  country,  a  few  individuals  who  understand  the 
true  nature  of  the  question,  but  who  have  not  principle,  or  in- 
dependence enough  to  stand  up  in  opposition  to  the  doctrines 
which  their  conciences  condemn. 

The  efforts  of  the  Free  Trade  party  are,  to  make  things 
cheap,  or,  in  other  words,  procurable,  for  the  least  possible  quan- 
tity of  labour  called  for  by  the  lights  and  improvements  of  the 
age.  The  efforts  of  the  restrictive  party  are  to  make  things 
dear,  that  is,  cost  more  labour  than  is  absolutely  necessary  to 
procure  them.  Thus  far,  however,  philosophy,  science,  inge- 
nuity, and  skill,  have  beat  their  opponents.  Every  few  days 
almost  we  see  announced  some  invention  or  improvement  by 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  327 

which  some  article  can  be  had  cheaper  than  before,  or,  of  a 
better  quaHty  at  the  same  price,  which  is  the  same  thing.  The 
power  of  steam  carries  the  boat  faster  one  way,  than  the  tide 
carries  her  the  other  way,  and  thus,  in  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of 
the  restrictive  party,  she  makes  headway  through  the  water. 


ESSAY    No.    CII 


MAY   11,    1831. 


Error  of  ascribing  the  fall  in  the  prices  of  goods  to  the  Tariff. 
True  cause  pointed  out. 

THE  advocates  of  high  duties  upon  the  necessaries  of  life — • 
that  is,  the  friends  of  the  '  American  System' — are  constantly 
crying  out  that  the  protecting  policy  has  made  the  protected 
articles  cheap.  They  tell  us  so  because  they  have  observed 
that  prices  have  fallen,  whilst  duties  have  increased ;  and,  not 
being  able  to  discriminate  between  a  cause  which  is  capable  of 
producing  a  particular  effect,  and  one  which  is  wholly  incapa- 
ble of  producing  it,  they  adopt  crude  and  confused  notions, 
which  prevent  them  from  thinking  correctly.  In  a  conversa- 
tion, the  other  day,  in  a  stagecoach,  with  a  Pennsylvania  far- 
mer, upon  this  subject,  he  said,  that  it  was  enough  for  him  to 
know,  that,  since  the  Protective  System  had  been  adopted, 
cotton  goods,  iron,  and  glass,  were  much  cheaper  than  they 
were  before  it  was  adopted.  We  asked  him  if  it  had  never  oc- 
curred to  him  that  the  fall  he  spoke  of,  and  which  we  fully  ad- 
mitted, had  been  occasioned  by  the  late  eclipse  of  the  sun  1 
that  being  a  cause  quite  as  capable  of  producing  such  an  ef- 
fect as  high  duties.  We  asked  him  if  he  had  not  noticed  that 
coffee,  tea,  chocolate,  spices,  silks,  wines,  copper,  tin,  crockery, 
and  a  hundred  other  things,  which  we  do  not  pretend  to  ma- 
nufacture or  to  produce  ourselves,  had  also  fallen  in  price  ? — 
and,  if  so,  upon  what  ground  could  he  take  it  for  granted  that 
the  tariff  had  occasioned  the  fall  upon  the  articles  he  had  spe- 
cified ?  The  real  truth  is,  that,  so  far  from  the  fall  in  the  price 
of  the  articles  which  enjoy  the  highest  protection  having  been 
occasioned  by  the  high  duties,  the  fall  invariably  preceded  the 
increased  duties.  Cotton  goods  did  not  fall  after  the  year  1816, 
in  consequence  of  the  duty  imposed  in  that  year,  but  the  duty 
of  that  year  was  imposed  in  consequence  of  the  fall  which  had 
taken  place  in  1815,  and  which  rendered  the  then  existing  duty 
inadequate  as  a  prohibition.  Again,  they  did  not  fall  after  the 
year  1824,  in  consequence  of  the  further  increase  of  duty  of 
that  year,  but  the  additional  duty  of  that  year  was  imposed 


328  ESSAYS    ON    THE     PRINCIPLES 

owing  to  the  vast  improvements  in  labour-saving  machinery, 
introduced  into  the  cotton  manufactures  of  England.  A  fur- 
ther diminution  of  the  \mce  abroad  led  to  the  increase  of  duty 
in  1828 ;  and  the  only  reason  why  we  do  not  hear  a  clamour  for 
more  protection,  is,  that  the  duty  is  now  prohibitory  upon  all 
the  low-priced  goods — and,  consequently,  the  American  Sys- 
tem operates  with  its  full  force  upon  that  one  article. 

The  same  facts  exist  in  reference  to  all  the  other  articles 
which  enjoy  the  greatest  degree  of  prohibition  in  their  favour. 
Causes  of  a  general  nature,  operating  throughout  the  industri- 
ous world,  have,  happily  for  the  human  family,  enabled  a  day's 
work  to  produce  more  than  it  formerly  could  be  made  to  pro- 
duce, and  the  effect  of  this  has  been  a  decline  of  price,  which 
brings  the  article  to  the  consumer  at  a  less  cost  of  labour  than 
it  used  to  cost  him  before.  Four  yards  of  common  muslin, 
which,  at  25  cents  a  yard  in  1815,  would  have  cost  a  day's  la- 
bour, can  now  be  had  for  less  than  half  a  day's  labour,  and,  were 
it  not  for  the  American  System,  could  be  had  for  one-third  of 
a  day's  labour.  Is  any  one  so  blind  to  his  interests  as  not  to 
perceive  that  "  cheapness"  and  "  clearness"  are  nothing  but  other 
terms  to  express  a  greater  or  less  degree  of  labour  ?  and  is  any 
one  so  stupid  as  to  prefer  to  toil  a  whole  day  to  procure  what 
it  is  possible  for  him  to  procure  by  half  a  day's  work  1  In  a 
community  like  ours,  one  would  suppose  that  the  answer  to 
this  question  would  be  a  negative  one.  Unfortunately,  how- 
ever, it  is  not  so.  The  prevailing  doctrine,  in  Pennsylvania  and 
several  other  states,  is,  that  the  more  laborious  the  process  by 
which  a  commodity  is  obtained,  the  better.  It  is  better,  say 
they  who  are  under  the  delusion  of  the  American  System,  to 
give  two  prices  for  a  ton  of  iron,  or  a  bushel  of  salt,  or  a  pound 
of  sugar,  or  a  yard  of  cloth,  than  one  price.  It  is  better,  say 
they,  to  have  one  coat  than  two  coats,  to  have  one  plough  than 
two  ploughs,  to  have  one  loaf  than  two  loaves.  Or  else,  why, 
in  the  name  of  common  sense,  when  Providence  places  within 
their  reach  double  quantities  of  things,  in  exchange  for  their 
labour,  do  they  reject  the  gratuitous  offer,  and,  like  idiots,  pre- 
fer the  smallest  quantity  ?  Such  infatuation  is  incomprehensi- 
ble ;  but,  as  Pennsylvania  has  exhibited,  upon  several  occa- 
sions— as,  for  instance,  when  under  the  influence  of  the  forty- 
bank  mania,  and  the  Redhefferian  system  of  perpetual  motion 
— an  equal  degree  of  delusion,  which  uUimately  passed  away, 
we  have  no  doubt  that,  when  her  present  selfish  politicians  be- 
gin to  lose  their  popularity,  as  all  have  done  who  have  gone 
before  them,  the  people  will  come  to  their  senses,  and  no  longer 
insist  upon  it  that  the  proper  way  to  make  a  people  prosper- 
ous is  to  make  them  pay  dear  for  things  which  it  is  possible  for 
them  to  get  cheap. 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  329 

ESSAY    No.    CI  II. 

MAY    11,    1831. 

The  Cotton  manvfactures.  Remarks  upon  a  commnnication 
from  a  manufacturer  tinder  the  signature  of  Statist.  Im- 
ports and  exports  of  Cotton  goods,  plain  and  coloured.  Fal- 
lacy of  the  doctnne  that  foreign  articles  are  driven  out  of 
the  American  7narhet  by  the  superior  quality  of  the  domestic 
goods,  when,  in  fact,  they  are  shut  out  by  prohibition. 

IN  our  paper  of  to-day  will  be  found  a  third  communication 
from  our  correspondent  Statist,  upon  the  subject  of  the  Cot- 
ton manufacture.  He  still  insists  upon  it  that  we  can  manu- 
facture cotton  fabrics  in  this  country  cheaper  than  the  British, 
and  asserts  that,  within  the  last  year  or  two,  a  considerable  ex- 
tension has  been  given  to  this  branch  of  business,  by  the  pro- 
duction of  a  species  of  coarse  fabric,  which  is  fast  driving  out 
of  use  the  coarse  linens  of  the  continent  of  Europe.  The  can- 
dour and  frankness  with  which  this  writer  gives  his  views  of 
the  manufacture  in  question,  entitle  him  to  a  fair  hearing.  In  re- 
gard to  his  first  proposition,  that  is,  that  coarse  cotton  goods 
can  be  manufactured  cheaper  in  this  country  than  in  England, 
he  is  either  wrong  or  he  is  right.  If  he  is  wrong,  then  it  fol- 
lows that  the  American  nation  is  taxed  to  support  the  cotton 
manufacture,  without  any  more  reason  and  authority  than  if  it 
were  taxed  for  the  purpose  of  raising  a  fund  to  pay  a  higher 
interest  to  manufacturing  capitalists  than  others  can  get  for 
their  money,  or  to  pay  higher  wages  to  manufacturing  opera- 
tives than  other  industrious  classes  can  get  by  being  employed 
in  commerce  or  agriculture.  If  he  is  right,  then  it  follows  that 
there  is  no  necessity  for  the  protecting  duty,  and,  consequently, 
it  ought  to  be  abolished. 

But  it  will  perhaps  be  said,  that,  although  we  can  manufac- 
ture cheaper  than  the  British,  yet  that  our  manufacturers  will 
not  sell  as  cheap  as  the  British — that  the  foreign  goods  being 
shut  out  by  the  high  duty,  leaves  the  home  market  a  monopoly, 
and  as  the  manufacturers  lost  money  by  their  operations  for 
two  years,  they  are  now  making  up  these  losses.  That  cotton 
goods  have  greatly  risen  within  a  year,  is  a  well  known  fact 
Upon  some  articles  a  rise  has  taken  place  of  from  20  to  50  per 
cent.,  and  if  the  former  prices  paid  the  cost  of  production,  the 
present  prices  must  yield  enormous  profits.  Supposing  the 
quantity  of  cotton  manufactured  in  the  U.  States  to  be  what  tho 
tariff  party  say  it  is,  200,000  bales  of  SOOlbs.,  that  is  60,000,000 
pounds,  and  supposing  this  to  be  manufactured  into  four  yards 
of  cloth  to  a  pound,  which  would  be  240,000,000  of  yardc  a 
2E* 


330  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

rise  upon  that  quantity  of  only  three  cents  a  yard,  would  be  a 
clear  tax  upon  the  nation  of  $  7,200,000.  And  for  whose  benefit 
would  this  tax  be?  Not  for  that  of  the  operatives  who  are 
employed  in  the  cotton  manufacture,  for  they  get  no  more  wa- 
ges in  that  business  than  people  engaged  in  other  branches  of 
industry.  For  whose  benefit,  then  ?  Why,  for  that  of  the 
wealthy  stockholders  in  the  manufacturing  corporations  of  New 
England,  and  the  individual  rich  capitalists  in  the  other  states 
who  own  the  factories.  It  is,  in  fact,  literally  to  increase  the 
wealth  of  the  wealthy,  and  thus  to  raise  up,  by  artificial  means, 
an  aristocracy  to  lord  it  over  the  country,  and  to  control  its 
politics,  as  if  wealth  acquired  by  legitimate  means  was  not 
capable  of  accomplishing  it  fast  enough  to  suit  our  republican 
taste.  It  is,  indeed,  the  most  extraordinary  infatuation  that 
ever  seized  upon  a  people,  which  actually  urges  them  on  to 
court  and  soUcit  increased  taxation,  for  the  sake  of  promoting 
the  interests  of  rich  corporations  and  individuals,  at  a  moment, 
too,  when  all  Europe  is  shaking  their  burdens  from  their  backs. 
As  to  the  position  of  our  correspondent,  that  our  coarse  cot- 
tons are  driving  out  of  use  the  coarse  linens  of  the  continent  of 
Europe,  the  advantages  or  disadvantages  which  may  result 
therefrom  to  the  country,  must  depend  upon  whether  they  are 
driven  out  by  high  duties  on  the  foreign  article,  or  by  the  cheap- 
ness and  superiority  of  the  domestic  article.  It  is  a  very  easy 
process  to  drive  an  article  out  of  use  by  prohibiting  its  importa- 
tion, and  such  driving  out  is  by  no  means  an  indication  of  a 
national  gain.  Suppose  a  duty  were  imposed  upon  mahogany 
of  a  dollar  a  foot,  for  the  purpose  of  putting  money  into  the 
pockets  of  the  owners  of  the  forests  where  curled  maple  is 
produced.  The  eflect  would  no  doubt  be,  that  domestic  woods 
would  take  the  place  of  the  foreign,  and  then  we  should  hear 
some  wiseacre  say,  that  maple,  walnut,  and  cherry  were  now 
manufactured  to  such  perfection  as  to  drive  out  of  use  the  ma- 
hogany of  St.  Uomingo  and  Honduras.  This  is  the  sort  of 
false  reasoning  that  has  produced  so  much  delusion  throughout 
the  country.  Congress  enacts  a  law  prohibiting  the  importa- 
tion of  certain  foreign  articles,  and  then,  because  they  cease  to 
make  their  appearance,  we  are  foolish  enough  to  fancy  that 
they  are  shut  out  by  the  superior  cheapness  of  our  own  commo- 
dities. If,  in  regard  to  the  particular  commodity  referred  to  by 
Statist,  the  article  be  really  "  cheaper  and  better"  than  linen, 
why  then  the  course  we  would  recommend  would  be,  to  re- 
duce the  duty  on  the  linen,  and  leave  the  consumer  free  to  take 
his  choice.  In  a  country  like  ours,  every  man,  rich  or  poor, 
ought  to  be  left  in  a  state  of  'perfect  liberty  to  buy  what  he 
pleases.  The  government  has  no  right  to  place  any  obstruc- 
tions in  his  way,  except  what  are  necessary  to  enable  it  to-col- 
lect from  him  a  fair  contribution  for  its  economical  support. 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  331 

All  beyond  this  is  wrong  and  oppression.  If,  therefore,  a  South- 
ern planter  says  he  likes  for  the  clothing  of  his  negroes  linen  or 
woollen  in  preference  to  cotton,  and  is  willing  to  pay  a  higher 
price  for  it,  why,  let  him  do  as  he  pleases.  He  has  every  mo- 
tive to  consult  his  own  true  interest  and  that  of  the  slave,  in 
choosing  the  cheapest  and  best  commodity,  and  we  would  a 
thousand  times  rather  leave  it  to  his  judgment  than  to  that  of 
any  body  else.  Depend  upon  it,  that  if  cotton  cloth,  for  the 
clothing  of  the  negroes  at  the  South,  is  "  cheaper  and  better" 
than  German  dowlas,  as  Statist  affirms  it  to  be,  it  v.^ill  soon  be 
found  out,  and  introduced  into  general  use. 

In  this  communication  of  our  correspondent,  he  asserts  what 
is  altogether  new  to  us.  It  is,  that  the  finer  cottons  have  been 
manufactured  in  this  country  to  a  greater  profit  than  the  coarse 
ones.  He  states,  that  the  duty  has  been  high  enough  to  pro- 
tect the  finer  as  well  as  the  coarse  ones,  and  he  repeats,  that 
even  the  former  can  be  manufactured  cheaper  here  than  in 
England.  This  assertion  is  undoubtedly  at  variance  with  all 
the  received  notions  on  this  subject,  and  is  an  additional  argu- 
ment in  favour  of  taking  off*  the  duty.  But  we  honestly  confess 
our  inability  to  accede  to  this  proposition,  without  some  fur- 
ther light  on  this  subject. 

The  imports  into  this  country,  and  exports  from  it,  of  white 
cottons,  during  the  last  five  years,  of  which  official  reports 
have  been  published,  were  as  follows : 

Imports.  Exports. 

1825  -       -       -     $3,326,208  -  -  -  $705,339 

1826  -       -       -        2,260,024  -  -  -  682,407 

1827  -       -       -       2,584,994  -  -  -  495,188 

1828  -               -        2,451,316  -  -  -  406,623 

1829  -       -       -        2,242,805  -  -  -  302,435 


$12,865,347  $2,591,992 

Now,  if  from $12,865,347 

We  deduct 2,-591,992 


There  will  remain  a  balance  of        -         -     $  10,273,355 

which  is  more  than  two  millions  of  dollars  per  annum  paid  for 
foreign  cotton  goods,  for  consumption,  which  paid  a  duty  of 
not  less  than  25  per  centum  ad  valorem,  and  from  that  up  to 
100,  besides  at  least  15  per  centum  expenses  of  importation. 
Now,  if  the  foreign  manufacturer,  after  paying  all  this  enor- 
mous duty,  and  these  expenses,  got  his  own  money  for  his 
goods — which  is  to  be  presumed,  or  he  would  not  have  gone 
on  with  his  trade — what  an  exhorbitant  profit  our  domestic  ma- 
nufacturers must  have  made  upon  the  quantity  they  sold  at  the 
same  prices  !  At  least  one-third  or  one-half  must  have  been 


332  ESSAYS    ON    THE     PRINCIPLES 

clear  profit — and  our  readers  will  owe  a  heavy  debt  of  grati- 
tude to  Statist  if  he  can  make  out  this  case,  which  is  far  more 
favourable  to  our  side  of  the  question  than  we  had  ever  su|'- 
posed. 

The  profits,  however,  of  the  plain  cotton  manufacture,  it 
seems,  are  equalled  by  those  of  the  calico-printing  branch,  the 
progress  of  which,  in  this  country,  is  described  in  very  glowing 
colours.  Our  correspondent  supposes,  that  thirty-five  to  forty 
millions  of  yards  are  printed  in  the  United  States,  and  that 
twenty  to  twenty-five  millions  of  yards  are  imported.  The 
imports  and  exports  of  printed  and  coloured  goods,  during  the 
last  five  years,  stood  thus : 


1825  -      - 

1826  -       - 
1627      -      - 

1828  -      - 

1829  -      - 

Imports. 
-     $7,709,830     -     . 
5,036,725     -     . 
5,316,546     -     . 
6,133,844     -     ■ 
4,404,078     -     . 

Exports. 

■  '     $1,105,252 
-     -        1,032,381 

■  -     -      964,904 
•     -        1,402,103 

■  -     -      751,871 

Now  if  from 
We  deduct 

$28,621,023 

$5,256,511 

$28,621,023 
5,256,511 

There  will  be  a  balance  of  -  -  -  $23,364,512 
the  value  of  foreign  printed  and  coloured  cotton  goods  consum- 
ed in  the  country  during  the  last  five  years,  which  is  equal,  up- 
on an  average,  to  $  4,672,902  per  annum. 

These  goods,  like  the  white  ones,  paid  a  duty  of  25  to  100 
per  centum,  besides  15  per  centum  expenses  of  importation — 
which,  taken  together,  at  an  average  of  60  per  cent.,  increas- 
ed their  cost  to  the  consumer  $  2,803,741.  Now  if  the  domes- 
tic manufacturers  sold  nearly  double  the  quantity  that  was  im- 
ported, they  must  have  made  a  profit  of  nearly  $  5,600,000 — 
that  is,  a  sum  nearly  double  the  amount  of  duties  and  charges 
upon  the  quantity  imported ;  and  if  this  sum  be  added  to  the 
duties  actually  paid,  it  will  show  a  tax  upon  the  nation,  for  the 
support  of  the  calico  manufacture,  of  upwards  of  eight  mil- 
lions of  dollars.  Whatever  Statist  may  think  on  the  subject, 
our  humble  opinion  is,  that  this  is  paying  too  dear  for  the  whis- 
tle. As  to  the  idea  that  the  calico  manufacture  is  any  more 
deserving  of  governmental  patronage  than  any  other  branch  of 
business,  we  think  that  these  statements  entirely  refute  it.  It 
never  can  be  the  policy  of  any  government  to  encourage  the 
domestic  production,  at  the  expense  of  the  consumers,  of  any 
article  to  the  value  of  twelve  millions  of  dollars,  which  requires 
a  tax  to  sustain  it  equal  to  eight  millions  of  dollars. 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  333 

ESSAY    No.    CIV. 

MAY    18,    1831. 

Importance  of  the  study  of  Political  Economy  to  private  indivi- 
duals as  well  as  to  public  men.  Eoils  resulting  to  the  com- 
munity from  the  want  of  understanding  the  operation  of 
poor  laws,  and  from  misapplied  philanthrophy. 

IF  the  science  of  Political  Economy  were  taught  in  all  our 
schools,  not  merely  as  a  branch  of  liberal  education,  but  as  a 
familiar  study,  the  interests  of  society  would  be  immensely  pro- 
moted. There  is  scarcely  a  transaction  in  life,  connected  with 
the  administration  of  affairs,  from  the  government  of  the  whole 
Union,  and  that  of  each  particular  state,  down  to  the  govern- 
ment of  every  individual  family,  which  is  not  dependent  for  its 
laws  upon  this  important  science.  No  man  deserves  to  be 
classed  amongst  statesmen  or  legislators  who  does  not  thorough- 
ly comprehend  it.  A  member  of  Congress  who  is  not  acquaint- 
ed with  the  principles  that  teach  the  mode  by  which  the  great- 
est good  of  the  greatest  number  is  best  to  be  promoted,  is  as 
unqualified  for  his  post  as  an  individual  would  be  to  teach  al- 
gebra, who  was  ignorant  of  the  simple  rules  of  arithmetic.  In 
like  manner,  a  member  of  Assembly,  who  knows  nothing  of 
banking,  of  currency,  of  the  principles  upon  which  capital  may 
be  accumulated  or  wasted,  of  the  sound  rules  by  which  taxes 
should  be  apportioned,  of  the  administration  of  the  poor-laws, 
of  the  regulation  of  the  interest  of  money,  and  the  various  other 
matters  which  appertain  to  the  functions  of  our  state  Govern- 
ments, must  always  legislate  in  the  dark.  Even  the  corpora- 
tions of  cities  and  boroughs,  and  the  administrators  of  the  af- 
fairs of  a  county,  township,  or  parish,  can  never  fulfill  their  du- 
ties to  the  public,  without  some  acquaintance  with  the  laws 
which  relate  to  income  and  expenditure.  And,  lastly,  what  fa- 
mily can  enjoy  as  much  substantial  comfort  and  independence, 
as  one  in  which  the  domestic  economy  is  regulated,  not  by  the 
laws  of  parsimony,  but  by  the  dictates  of  a  science  w^hich 
teaches  how  the  greatest  extent  of  enjoyments  is  to  be  secured 
at  the  least  cost  of  labour. 

The  idea  that  Political  Economy  is  an  abstruse,  dry,  and  un- 
interesting subject,  is  founded  in  error.     It  is  true  that  the  most 
abstract  principles  of  the  science,  like  those  of  any  other  branch 
of  philosophy,  are  beyond  the  reach  of  ordinary  minds — but  its 
more  plain  and  practical  elements  are  as  easily  to  be  apprehend 
ed  as  any  other  matter  of  every  day  concern.     It  is  not,  how 
ever,  intended  hereby  to  advance  the  position  that  the  attrac 
tions  held  out  by  this  study  are  sufficiently  strong  to  induce 


334  ESSAYS    ON    THE     PRINaPLES 

every  one  to  enter  upon  it ;  such  universal  power  of  attraction 
belongs  to  no  pursuit  whatever.  Look  at  the  beautiful  study 
of  botany,  for  example,  or  the  useful  science  of  chemistry,  or 
the  amusing  researches  of  natural  history,  and  professors  will 
tell  you  that  the  number  of  individuals  who  embark  with  zeal 
in  those  departments  of  knowledge  is  comparatively  limited. 
Still  there  are  many  who  devote  their  attention  to  these  studies, 
and  who  find  a  satisfaction  which  amply  compensates  them  for 
the  labour,  although  they  may  not  be  in  a  situation  lo  apply  the 
knowledge  they  may  acquire  to  any  practical  utility.  And 
would  not  Political  Economy  be  studied  if  it  were  generally 
known  that  its  principles  are  as  intimately  connected  with  the 
daily  transactions  of  society,  as  the  principles  of  domestic  eco- 
nomy are  with  the  daily  transactions  of  an  individual  family  ? 
Nine-tenths  of  the  misery  and  suffering  of  the  poor  and  labouring 
classes  arises  from  the  absence  of  all  knowledge  of  Political 
Economy  on  the  part  of  those  who  are  chosen  to  regulate  af- 
fairs. In  reference,  especially,  to  our  poor  laws  and  charitable 
mstitutions,  the  most  lamentable  ignorance  prevails.  Instead 
of  striking  at  the  root  of  the  evil,  and  cutting  out  the  cancer 
which  is  consuming  the  body  politic,  we  are  content  to  apply 
an  external  plaister,  which  only  conceals  from  our  sight  the 
mortal  ulcer,  but  leaves  the  disease  more  deeply  seated  than 
ever.  The  whole  system  of  ou  ;  charitable  institutions,  designed 
for  the  temporary  relief  of  the  poor,  requires  revision.  Instead 
of  diminishing  pauperism,  they  increase  it,  by  holding  out  in- 
ducements for  those  who  would  otherwise  depend — aye,  and 
successfully  depend,  too — upon  their  own  exertions  for  their 
support,  to  rely  upon  charitable  aido  They  multiply  the  class, 
already  sufficiently  large,  of  those  who  calculate  upon  public 
patronage,  for  their  maintenance,  and  create,  in  the  humblest 
walks  of  life,  a  class  of  people  corresponding  to  that  which  is 
found  in  the  higher  grades,  who  rely  altogether  upon  public  of- 
fices for  their  support.  Charity,  when  well  regulated,  is  a  car- 
dinal virtue,  but  every  species  of  alms-giving  is  not  charity.  A 
good  motive  must  be  tempered  by  a  sound  discretion.  Hospi- 
tals and  asylums,  for  the  deaf  and  dumb,  and  blmd,  for  infants 
who  are  too  young  to  obtain  their  livelihood,  for  aged  people 
who  are  too  old  or  infirm  to  labour,  for  lunatics,  idiots,  and 
those  who  are  physically  incapable  of  helping  themselves,  are 
deserving  of  all  support.  But  where  persons  labour  under 
none  of  these  disabilities  or  afflictions,  the  claim  for  charitable  aid 
ought  to  be  very  fully  established  to  entitle  it  to  attention ;  and, 
where  it  is  ascertained  to  be  founded  upon  casualty  or  misfor- 
tune, and  not  misconduct,  the  relief  should  be  afforded  in  the 
way  of  furnishing  employment,  rather  than  in  the  payment  of 
gratuities. 

Upon  this  subject,  we  are  aware,  there  is  in  our  community, 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  335 

a  morbid  sensibility.  To  take  an  active  part  in  charitable  in- 
stitutions is  quite  a  mania,  and  those  who  venture  to  advance 
opinions  intended  to  show  that  more  mischief  than  good  may 
result  from  a  blind,  indiscriminate  zeal,  are  looked  upon  as  un- 
charitable and  hard-hearted.  The  odium  attendant  upon  this 
imputation  is  too  much  for  editors  generally  to  hazard,  and 
hence  we  rarely  see  the  press  enter  upon  the  discussion  of  this 
delicate  question.  For  our  part,  with  feelings  of  charity  and 
good  will  extending  to  the  poor  of  other  countries  as  well  as 
our  own,  and  limited  by  no  such  anti-christian  doctrine  as  that 
"  charity  begins  at  home,"  we  shall  cheerfully  open  the  columns 
of  this  paper  to  a  free  discussion  of  any  measure  which  pro- 
poses the  melioration  of  the  physical  condition  of  the  human 
family.  Our  plan  of  relief  is  the  adoption  of  the  principles  of 
Free  Trade,  and  the  abolition  of  all  restrictions  upon  the  liberty 
of  the  hand.  In  a  state  of  perfect  freedom,  pauperism  of  able- 
bodied  persons  would  be  unknown.  The  fertile  and  almost  un- 
limited regions  of  the  West,  are  capable  of  supplying  the  means 
of  abundance  and  independence  to  millions  of  emigrants — and 
all  who  could  not  find  employment  in  the  commerce  and  manu- 
factures of  cities  and  towns,  would  find  it  in  the  agriculture  of 
the  country,  which  would  be  greatly  extended  under  a  liberal 
system  of  commercial  policy.  The  man  who  devotes  his  time  to 
an  active  administration  of  some  charitable  institution  for  the 
relief  of  the  poor,  and  who  at  the  same  time  advocates  the  Re- 
strictive System,  is  like  the  quack-doctor,  who,  whilst  he  was 
prescribing  flannels  and  bandages  for  the  gouty  foot  of  a  pa- 
tient, fed  him  up  with  choice  dainties  and  luxurious  potations. 


ESSAY    No.    CV 


MAY  i25,  1831. 

The  Message  of  the  Governor  of  Connecticut,  in  which  many  fal- 
lacies appear  as  to  the  Restrictive  System,  examined,  and  its 
errors  pointed  out.  The  doctrine  of  the  home  and  foreign 
markets,  as  held  by  the  advocates  of  restriction,  shewn  to  be 
fallacious. 

THE  following  are  extracts  from  the  Messao-e  of  Gov.  Pe- 
ters  to  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  Connecticut,  delivered  at 
the  opening  of  its  session,  at  the  commencement  of  the  present 
month  of  May : 

"  The  industrious  habits  of  the  people  are  favourable  to  ma- 
nufacturing employments — their  progress  and  experience  in  the 
art  have  abundantly  increased  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  articles 


336  ESSAYS    ON    THE     PRINCIPLES 

manufactured — and  the  competition  among  the  stockholders  has, 
at  the  same  time,  reduced  the  prices." 

If  it  be  true  that  the  industrious  habits  of  the  people  are  fa- 
vourable to  manufacturing  employments,  where  is  the  necessity 
of  artificial  stimulants  to  give  them  an  impulse  1  This  is  a  point 
upon  which  great  confusion  exists  in  the  minds  of  the  Tariff 
party.  They  say  manufacturing  is  one  of  the  natural  employ- 
ments of  this  country,  to  which  a  great  proportion  of  the  indus- 
try of  the  people  must  7ieeds  be  applied-  We  say  so  too,  and 
furthermore  we  say,  that  if  Congress  were  to  take  an  anti-ma- 
nufacturing whim,  and  try  to  keep  manufactures  down,  they 
could  not  do  it.  But  the  Tariff  party  say,  this  being  true,  it 
follows  of  necessity  that  the  Government  ought  to  grant  boun- 
ties to  manufacturers  for  doing  the  very  thing  which  their  in- 
terest points  out  to  them  as  the  most  profitable.  This  is  pre- 
cisely the  same  sort  of  reasoning  as  if  a  baker  were  to  say, 
"  People  must  eat  bread — there  must  be  bakers — but  the  Go- 
vernment ought  to  lay  a  tax  upon  the  people,  to  enrich  them." 
Governor  Peters  has  fallen  into  the  same  error,  and  thinks  that 
those  who  are  not  lame,  ought  to  be  provided,  at  the  public 
expense,  with  a  staff  to  walk  with.  His  idea  about  the  reduc- 
tion of  prices,  shows  that  he  has  not  examined  this  subject.  Do- 
mestic competition  has  had  as  little  to  do  with  bringing  down 
the  prices  of  cotton  and  woollen  manufactures,  as  it  has  had  to 
do  with  bringing  down  the  prices  of  tea  and  coffee.  Would 
any  one  think  that  a  scrub-race  between,  a  couple  of  cart- 
horses, near  Philadelphia,  could  have  any  influence  upon  the 
ileetness  of  the  famous  horses  which  lately  exhibited  such  speed 
over  the  New  York  course  ?  The  truth  is,  that  in  manufactures 
there  is  a  grand  race  now  going  on  all  over  the  world.  The 
more  full  and  free  the  competition,  and  the  wider  the  market, 
the  greater  will  be  the  reduction  of  price.  Laws,  therefore, 
which  restrict  the  universality  of  the  competition,  and  thereby 
narrow  the  market,  diminish  the  chances  of  reduction ;  and 
hence,  the  artificial  encouragement  given  to  those  manufactures 
which  have  not  sprung  up  in  this  country  in  the  natural  course 
of  things,  has  positively  retarded  the  ratio  of  reduction.  The 
case  may  be  illustrated  thus :  The  city  of  Philadelphia  is  situ- 
ated in  Pennsylvania,  on  the  western  bank  of  the  Delaware ; 
the  state  of  New  Jersey,  which  is  situated  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  river,  supplies  the  Philadelphia  market  with  nearly  all 
the  melons  and  peaches  which  are  brought  there ;  the  compe- 
tition among  the  Jersey  farmers  is  so  great,  that  there  has  been 
for  many  years  a  gradual  reduction  in  the  price  of  those  arti- 
cles. Both  these  fruits  can  be  produced  in  Pennsylvania,  but 
not  to  such  advantage  as  many  other  articles  of  agricultural 
produce,  for  which  her  soil  is  better  adapted.  Now,  suppose, 
by  way  of  encouraging  the  growth  of  melons  and  peaches  in 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  337 

Pennsylvania,  the  corporation  of  Philadelphia  should  exercise 
a  power  not  delegated  to  it,  and  should  impose  a  duty  upon  all 
that  should  be  brought  over  from  Jersey — and  suppose  that 
notwithstanding  this  duty,  ihe  Jersey  farmers  could  find  their 
account  in  still  supplying  the  Philadelphia  market  with  melons 
and  peaches,  and  even  at  a  lower  price  than  before  the  duty  was 
laid,  which  w^ould  of  course  compel  the  Pennsylvania  farmers 
also  to  come  down  with  their  prices — would  it  not  be  silly  to 
say  that  the  reduction  had  been  occasioned  by  the  Pennsylva- 
nia competition  ?  And  would  it  not  be  equally  clear,  that  the 
demand  in  the  Philadelphia  market,  for  melons  and  peaches, 
being  less  than  it  would  have  been  without  the  duty,  which 
keeps  up  the  price,  the  reduction  would  be  less  than  if  free  com- 
petition had  existed  ? 

"  The  consumer  reaps  the  benefit,  while  he  obtains  the  further 
advantage  of  a  home-market  for  the  raw  material  and  the  ag- 
ricultural productions  of  the  country,  without  encountering  the 
expense  and  danger  of  transportation  to  foreign  countries,  and 
the  caprices  of  their  governments." 

The  "  benefit"  which  the  consumer  reaps,  is  that  of  paying 
two  prices  for  a  ton  of  iron,  for  a  suit  of  clothes,  or  for  a  pound 
of  sugar,  instead  of  one.  The  "  advantage"  he  obtains,  is  that 
of  having  one  market  instead  of  two.  The  nonsense,  which  is 
so  current,  about  creating  a  home-market  for  agricultural  pro- 
ducts, by  artificial  means,  in  a  country  where  there  is  an  abun- 
dance of  land,  sufficient  for  the  sustenance  of  ten  times  the  ex- 
isting population,  can  alone  be  founded  on  the  supposition  that 
people  can  only  be  induced  to  eat  and  clothe  themselves  when 
thereunto  compelled  by  an  act  of  Congress.  It  is  surprising  that 
so  self-evident  a  proposition  cannot  be  universally  admitted,  that 
the  whole  population  of  the  United  States  must  be  fed  and  cloth- 
ed, whether  we  have  foreign  trade  or  not.  The  home-market 
must  exist  as  long  as  people  have  appetites  to  be  gratified  and 
backs  to  be  covered ;  and  those  whose  industry  supplies  these 
wants  are  just  as  sure  of  the  home-market  as  a  lawyer  is  sure  of 
being  benefited  by  the  litigation  of  his  neighbours.  The  great 
point  to  be  gained  is,  to  have  a  foreign  market  besides.  This 
is  what  the  friends  of  Free  Trade  are  exerting  themselves  to 
accomplish.  They  say  that  the  farmers  ought  to  have  two  mar- 
kets for  their  flour,  grain,  beef,  pork,  hams,  lard,  butter,  &c. ; 
and  they  say  that  the  consumers  of  manufactures  ought  to  have 
two  markets  to  buy  in.  In  this  country  nineteen  men  out  of 
twenty  are  interested  in  this  question,  as  agricultural  producers, 
or  as  consumers,  and  the  other  twentieth  it  is,  alone,  which  is 
benefited  by  the  restrictive  system. 

The  idea  of  its  being  a  desirable  thing  to  avoid  •'  the  expense 
and  danger"  of  foreign  commerce,  is  quite  novel.  If  the  ex- 
2F 


338  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

pense  and  danger  of  shipping  a  cargo  of  mules  and  horses  from 
Connecticut  to  the  West  Indies  were  equivalent  to  thirty  dol- 
lars a  head,  and  if  the  increased  price  obtained  at  Jamaica  was 
sixty  dollars  a  head,  would  Gov.  Peters'  political  philosophy 
teach  him  that  this  was  a  process  which  ought  to  be  avoided  ? 
If  so,  we  can  tell  him  that  we  know  gentlemen  in  New  Haven 
who  have  a  very  different  opinion  on  the  subject,  and  who  are 
now  enriching  themselves  and  the  country  by  "  encountering 
the  expense  and  danger"  of  transportation,  and  of  the  horse  lati- 
tudes to  boot.  As  to  the  caprices  of  foreign  governments,  it 
is  a  happy  thing  for  mankind  that  no  mischief  can  result  from 
them,  which  does  not  weigh  with  a  more  heavy  hand  upon 
those  who  indulge  in  them,  than  upon  those  against  whom  they 
may  be  levelled.  If  the  British  Government  is  so  unwise  as  to 
show  its  caprice,  and  say  that  the  British  people  shall  be  put 
upon  a  short  allowance  of  bread,  would  the  American  Govern- 
ment act  any  more  wisely  if  it  were  to  retaliate,  by  declaring 
that  the  American  people  shall  be  put  upon  a  short  allowance 
of  shirts  and  coats?  This  is  the  true  statement  of  the  case; 
John  is  so  full  of  caprice,  that  he  cuts  off  one  of  his  fingers — 
and  Jonathan,  by  way  of  avenging  himself,  insists  upon  it  that 
his  true  policy  is  to  cut  off  two  of  his  own  by  way  of  retaliation. 

"  In  time  of  peace,  this  system  renders  our  country  indepen- 
dent— in  time  of  war  we  are  not  reduced  to  the  humiliating 
necessity  of  violating  our  own  laws  to  procure  clothing  and 
blankets  from  the  enemy,  to  cover  our  suffering  armies." 

The  independence  in  time  of  peace  here  spoken  of,  is,  to  use 
the  witty  language  of  a  Southern  statesman,  "  Robinson  Cru- 
soe in  his  goat-skins."  It  is  the  independence  of  having  one 
coat  instead  of  two,  one  ton  of  iron  instead  of  two,  one  barrel 
of  sugar  instead  of  two  ;  or,  to  apply  the  case  to  the  ladies,  it  is 
the  independence  of  having  one  dress,  one  hat,  or  one  shawl, 
where  two  might  be  had.  In  time  of  war  it  is  undoubtedly 
very  humiliating  to  be  beholden  to  an  enemy  for  favors.  But 
there  is  no  necessity  for  this.  Unless  we  were  at  war  w^ith  the 
whole  world,  there  would  always  be  some  neutrals  ready  to 
supply  us ;  and  nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  that  nation 
is  always  best  prepared  for  war,  which,  by  low  duties,  permits 
the  accumulation  within  her  territory  of  large  stocks  of  foreign 
merchandise,  to  be  availed  of  in  case  fresh  supplies  should  be 
cut  off.  The  doctrine  of  Governor  Peters  is  this :  That,  be- 
cause it  is  possible  that  we  may  be  at  war  one  year  out  of 
twenty,  during  which  we  may  possibly  have  to  pay  for  foreign 
supplies  an  increased  price,  equal  to  twenty  or  thirty  per  cent., 
to  pay  for  the  increased  insurance  and  freight,  it  is  sound  poli- 
cy, in  order  to  avoid  this  possible  evil,  to  begin  at  once,  and  to 
compel  ourselves  to  pay  double  price  for  the  whole  twenty 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  339 

years.  This  is  the  whole  sum  and  substance  of  this  argument 
— and  it  is  just  as  rational  as  it  would  be  for  the  shoemaker  to 
make  his  own  hats,  at  double  the  cost  of  labour  which  he  would 
have  to  incur  by  exchanging  shoes  for  hats,  merely  because  he 
took  it  into  his  head  that  possibly  he  and  the  hatter,  at  some 
distant  day,  might  have  a  falling  out. 

*^  The  South  and  the  West  participate  in  the  benefits,  from  the 
improved  quality  and  reduced  prices  of  domestic  manufactured 
articles,  and  in  finding  a  sure  market,  with  an  increased  de- 
mand, for  the  productions  of  their  farms." 

Adding  insult  to  injury  never  mends  a  matter.  It  is  bad 
enough  for  a  man  to  be  robbed  ;  but  to  be  told  by  the  robber 
that  the  loss  of  his  purse  is  a  positive  gain  to  him,  is  carrying 
the  joke  too  far.  The  "  benefits"  which  the  South  experiences 
from  the  American  System,  are  like  those  experienced  by  York 
county,  in  Pennsylvania,  in  consequence  of  the  legislature  re- 
fusing to  let  the  Baltimoreans  construct  a  rail-road,  by  which 
York  county  would  have  access  to  two  markets  instead  of  one. 
As  to  the  South  benefiting  by  the  improved  quality  and  the 
reduced  price  of  manufactures,  that  is  not  the  question  at  is- 
sue. The  question  is,  whether  she  gets  her  supplies  as  good 
or  as  cheap  as  she  would  get  them  if  it  were  not  for  the  high 
duties.  A  pound  of  sugar  can  now  be  had  for  six  cents,  which 
used  to  cost  twelve,  and  if  it  were  not  for  the  duty  it  could 
be  had  for  three.  The  American  System  has  had  about  as 
much  to  do  with  the  fall  in  the  price  of  sugar  throughout  the 
world,  as  it  has  had  to  do  in  bringing  down  the  price  of  log- 
wood or  mahogany,  which  have  fallen  as  much  as  sugar ;  and, 
as  far  as  it  is  concerned,  its  only  operation  is  to  prevent  sugar 
from  being  as  cheap  as  it  would  otherwise  be.  But  because 
ihe  power  of  steam  carries  a  boat  down  the  river  at  the  rate 
ot  tVk^elve  miles  an  hour,  whilst  the  tide  carries  her  up  at 
the  rate  of  three,  it  is  insisted,  that  the  velocity  of  nine  miles, 
which  the  boat  gains,  results  from  the  force  of  the  tide.  The 
"  sure  market"  which  the  West  finds  for  her  agricultural  pro- 
duce, is  that  of  a  people  whose  powers  of  purchasing  are  limit- 
ed by  restrictions  upon  their  industry,  and  is  nothing  like  as 
great  as  it  would  be  if  every  one  was  free  to  sell  where  he 
could  sell  dearest,  and  buy  where  he  could  buy  cheapest. 

"  The  encouragement  and  protection  of  domestic  manufac- 
tures has  been  a  sound  policy  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  from  the  commencement  of  its  operations.  This  policy 
it  has  become  a  settled  principle  of  the  people  to  continue." 

The  encouragement  and  protection  aflTorded  to  domestic 
manufactures,  at  the  commencement  of  our  government,  were 
limited  to  the  indirect  operation  of  duties  of  five  to  fifteen  per 


340  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

centum,  imposed  solely  for  revenue.  So  long  as  revenue  is  need- 
ed, and  so  long  as  the  custom-house  is  resorted  to,  so  long  will 
the  same  sort  of  protection  be  atrorded.  But  if  the  Governor 
means  to  say  that  duties  of  thirty-five  to  two  hundred  and 
twenty-five  per  centum  are  to  be  adhered  to,  as  the  settled  po- 
licy of  the  country,  {ox  the  benefit  of  the  manufacturing  corpo- 
rations of  New  England,  we  think  his  Excellency  will  find 
himself  mistaken. 

It  is  remarkable  how  precisely  alike  all  the  philosophers  of 
the  American  System  mystify  the  subject  whenever  they  touch 
it.  They  take  good  care  never  to  approach  the  true  question, 
which  is  this:  Is  it  not  advantageous  to  a  community  to  have 
cheap  goods  in  preference  to  dear  ones,  and  does  not  the  Ame- 
rican System  prevent  goods  from  being  as  cheap  as  they 
otherwise  would  be  1  Let  them  answer  this  question. 


ESSAY    No.    CVI 

JPNE    1,    1831. 


Letter  from  Mr.  Clay  to  some  manufacturers  in  Pittsburg,  in 
answer  to  one,  accompanied  by  a  present  of  some  articles  of 
domestic  manufacture.  Doctrines  of,  examined.  Amount  of 
revenue  collected  for  1815  to  1829.  Imports  and  exports  of 
certain  years.     Tonnage  fro7n  1815  to  1829. 

We  have  met  with  the  following  article  in  the  "  National 
Gazette :" 

"  The  American  System. — Some  enterprising  manufacturers 
of  Pittsburgh,  (Penn.)  lately  addressed  a  note  to  Mr.  Clay,  ac- 
companied by  several  articles  and  implements  from  their  own 
workshops,  as  a  just  tribute  of  respect  for  his  exertions  in  the 
great  cause  of  American  Manufactures  and  Home  Industry. 
These  gentlemen  state,  in  their  letter,  that  '  every  particle  in 
the  composition  of  these  utensils,  from  the  ore  to  the  finished 
instrument,  is  the  produce  of  American  soil,  skill,  and  labour. 
The  iron  was  made  under  our  personal  inspection,  and  the  steel 
in  our  convertory,  under  the  direction  and  according  to  the  im- 
proved process  of  an  American  gentleman,  E.  L.  Losey.  We 
therefore  take  a  pride  and  pleasure  in  warranting  these  articles 
to  you  as  good." 

"The Editor  of  the  '  Pittsburg  Gazette'  with  some  difficulty 
obtained  from  the  gentlemen  who  sent  these  articles  a  copy  of 
their  letter,  and  of  Mr.  Clay's  friendly  reply,  for  publication. 
This  last  we  subjoin : 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  341 

"  Ashland,  3d  May,  1831. 

*'  Gentlemen  :  I  postponed  answering  your  obliging  letter  of 
the  22d  of  March  last,  borne  by  Mr.  Stephens,  until  the  fate 
of  the  articles,  also  committed  to  his  care,  for  my  use,  was 
certainly  ascertained.  After  various  narrow  escapes,  from  ac- 
cidents unfortunately  occurring,  I  believe,  to  several  steam- 
boats, I  have  the  pleasure  to  inform  you  that  I  yesterday  safely 
received  them,  consisting  of  a  spade,  shovel,  axe,  hoe,  and 
carving  knife  and  fork.  They  are  all  excellent  of  their  kinds, 
and  do  great  credit  to  the  artizans  by  whom  they  were  made. 
I  beg  your  acceptance  of  my  grateful  thanks  for  them,  for  the 
friendly  spirit  which  prompted  you  to  tender  them,  and  for  the 
flattering  terms  in  which  they  are  conveyed.  Their  value  is 
much  enhanced  in  my  view,  as  you  justly  anticipated,  by  thj 
fact  that  every  particle  of  the  utensils,  from  the  ore  to  the  last 
finish,  is  the  produce  of  American  soil,  skill,  and  labour.  The 
successful  manufacture  of  steel  at  Pittsburg  was  a  desideratum, 
and  I  am  happy  to  perceive,  from  the  specimen  in  these  arti- 
cles, that  the  quality  of  it,  as  far  as  I  can  judge,  realizes  every 
wish. 

"  You  are  right  in  supposing  that  I  derive  very  great  satisfac- 
tion from  witnessing  the  prosperity  of  Pittsburg,  and  the  com- 
plete success  of  our  American  System.  Never  had  the  friends 
of  any  great  measure  of  National  policy  more  cause  to  rejoice 
— never  were  the  predictions  of  the  foes  of  any  such  measure 
more  refuted,  than  in  the  instance  of  the  triumph  of  that  sys- 
tem. It  was  objected  to  it,  that  it  would  dry  up  the  sources  of 
the  public  revenue.  The  rev^enue  has  been  increased.  It  was 
said  that  our  foreign  commerce  would  be  destroyed.  Our  fo- 
reign commerce  has  been  greatly  nourished  and  extended  by 
its  operation,  changing  only  some  of  its  subjects.  It  was  urged 
that  it  would  impair  our  marine.  Our  navigation,  and  espe- 
cially the  most  valuable  part  of  it,  has  been  rapidly  extended. 
It  was  reproached  with  comprehending  enormous  burdens  to 
consumers,  by  obliging  them  to  purchase  worse,  and  at  dearer 
prices,  articles  of  American  origin,  than  similar  articles  of  fo- 
reign manufacture.  Almost  every  protected  article  has  been 
greatly  reduced  in  price,  and,  in  some  instances,  so  much  that 
the  cost  of  the  article  scarcely  equals  the  duty  of  protection. 
It  is  in  vain  that  the  opponents  of  the  system  seek,  by  subtle  and 
ingenious  solutions,  to  account  for  this  gratifying  fact — the  fact 
itself  falsifies  their  predictions — and  it  is  worth  a  thousand  hair- 
sphtting  theories.  Finally,  it  was  urged  that  the  system  would 
be  a  fruitful  source  of  vice,  and  immorality,  and  depravity. 
It  has  rescued  from  impending  ruin  thousands,  who,  for  the 
want  of  employment,  would  have  been  lost  to  society,  and  has 
filled  their  abodes  with  comfort,  abundance,  and  happiness.  It 
has  saved,  and  made  virtuous  members  of  the  community, 
2F* 


342  ESSAYS     ON    THE     PRINCIPLES 

thousands,  of  both  sexes,  who,  but  for  its  existence,  would  have 
become  victims  to  vice,  indolence,  and  dissipation :  and  I  sin- 
cerely believe  that  every  part  of  our  coamion  country  has  been 
benefited  by  it. 

"  With  my  best  wishes  for  your  prosperity 
"  and  happiness, 
"  I  am,  gentlemen,  your  obedient  servant, 

"H.  CLAY. 
"  Messrs.  Barnet,  Shore  &  Co." 

That  the  persons  who  are  deeply  interested  in  those  branches 
of  manufacture  which  require  high  duties  to  sustain  them, 
should  take  every  occasion  to  make  an  appeal  to  the  false  no- 
tions of  patriotism  by  which  so  many  people  have  been  led  into 
erroneous  modes  of  thinking,  is  not  to  be  wondered  at.  Nor  is 
it  to  be  wondered  at  that  those  politicians  who  have  mounted 
the  American  System,  as  a  hobby  upon  which  they  expect  to 
ride  into  power,  should  every  now  and  then  have  a  chance  af- 
forded them,  by  their  friends,  to  proclaim  their  continued  ad- 
hesion to  the  saddle.  Hence  we  often  see  the  farce  performed 
of  a  present  of  some  manufactured  commodity  to  some  aspi- 
rant, accompanied  by  a  letter,  puffing  both  it  and  him,  for  no 
purpose  in  the  world  but  to  throw  snuff  into  the  eyes  of  the 
public. 

The  facts  which  are  set  forth  in  the  preceding  statement,  are, 
simply,  that  some  manufacturers  at  Pittsburg  had  made  a  pre- 
sent to  Farmer  Clay  of  a  spade,  a  shovel,  an  axe,  a  hoe,  and  a 
carving  knife  and  fork,  which  had  been  manufactured  out  of 
American  iron  and  American  wood.  Now  in  this  fact  there 
is  nothing  wonderful.  With  the  exception  of  the  knife  and 
fork,  all  these  implements  have  been  made  in  this  country,  and 
we  dare  say  even  in  Pittsburg,  of  precisely  the  same  materials, 
ever  since  the  independence  of  the  country;  for  iron  and  wood 
being  two  of  the  natural  products  of  the  soil,  have  at  all  times 
been  abundant.  Nor  is  there  any  thing  remarkable  or  won- 
derful in  the  fact  that  there  should  be  found  American  work- 
men capable  of  manufacturing  implements  which  have  always 
been  demanded  by  the  wants  of  agriculture.  A  stranger,  who 
had  never  visited  this  country,  on  seeing  this  correspondence, 
would  suppose  that  we  were  a  sort  of  half-civilized  people  who 
had  just  introduced  amongst  us  the  art  of  manufacturing  iron, 
when  in  truth  spades  and  shovels,  axes  and  hoes,  have  at  all 
times  been  made  by  our  blacksmiths,  to  supply  nine-tenths  of 
the  wants  of  the  nation.  Now,  what  is  there  in  this  parade 
and  flourish  of  trumpets  to  excite  our  amazement?  Are  we 
told  that  these  implements  are  made  at  Pittsburg  so  cheap  that 
the  domestic  article  can  be  procured  with  less  m0ney,  or  with 
less  labour,  than  foreign  ones  of  the  same  quality  ?  Not  at  all. 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  343 

Not  a  single  syllable  appears  upon  this  important  point,  the 
only  one  which  is  calculated  to  enable  us  to  form  a  judgment 
whether  the  existence  of  this  manufacture  is  advantageous  or 
injurious  to  the  public.  Suppose  Mr.  Pratt  should  send  a  pre- 
sent to  Mr.  Clay,  of  a  pound  of  coffee,  from  his  hot-house  on 
the  Schuylkill,  to  raise  which  had  cost  him  five  dollars,  ex- 
pended upon  the  American  industry  of  builders,  glaziers,  gar- 
deners, wood-cutters,  wood-haulers,  and  the  various  other  per- 
sons required  to  build  a  hot-house,  to  superintend  the  plants,  and 
to  keep  up  a  fire  there  in  winter ;  and  suppose  Mr.  Pratt  should 
think  he  had  rendered  a  great  service  to  the  agriculture  of  the 
country,  by  enabling  his  fellow-citizens  to  drink  real  American 
coffee,  "  the  produce  of  American  soil,  skill,  and  labor," — what 
would  be  thought  of  Mr.  Clay's  qualifications  for  the  Presiden- 
cy, if  he  should  laud  Mr.  Pratt  to  the  skies,  and  advocate  the 
raising  of  cofl^ee  in  hot-houses,  by  prohibiting  the  importation 
of  all  foreign  coffee  1  We  think  the  common  sense  of  the  coun- 
try would  perceive  the  shallowness  of  the  policy,  and  would 
laugh  down  any  such  system.  But  only  call  the  same  nonsense 
"  the  American  System," — let  iron,  and  not  cofl"ee,  be  the  ar- 
ticle to  be  forced  by  the  hot-house  process — tickle  the  ears  of 
the  people  with  "  encouragement  of  American  industry,"- — call 
it  "p-o^eci/on,"  and  not  "prohibition," — and,  like  a  parcel  of 
ninnyhammers,  they  instantly  forget  that  this  whole  scheme  is 
nothing  but  a  roundabout  way  of  getting  a  thing,  which  they 
can  get,  if  they  choose,  with  half  the  trouble  or  sacrifice  of 
labour.  It  is  nothing  but  going  to  mill  by  the  road,  when  there 
is  a  short  cut  through  the  fields  which  will  carry  you  there 
in  half  the  time  and  with  half  the  trouble. 

These  remarks  are  made  under  the  supposition  that  the 
prices  of  the  articles  presented  to  Mr.  Clay  were  higher  than 
articles  of  the  same  quality  would  be,  were  the  duty  no  more 
than  sufficient  for  revenue.  We  presumed  this  to  be  the  case, 
from  Mr.  Clay's  considering  this  specimen  of  manufactures  as 
one  evidence  of  the  success  of  the  American  System.  That 
system,  every  body  knows,  has  nothing  to  do  with  those 
branches  of  business  comprising  nine-tenths  and  more  of  the 
pursuits  of  the  community,  which  are  natural  to  the  country, 
and  result  from  the  ordinary  structure  of  society.  It  only  em- 
braces those  manufactures  which  cannot  be  supported  without 
a  tax  on  the  nation,  imposed  in  the  same  manner  precisely  as 
would  be  the  case  if  the  Government,  in  order  to  encourage 
the  domestic  growth  of  coffee,  at  five  dollars  a  pound,  when  it 
can  be  had  abroad  at  five  cents,  should  prohibit  the  people  from 
drinking  foreign  coffee. 

In  Mr.  Clay's  reply,  he  makes  a  pretty  bold  attack  upon  the 
Free  Trade  party.  He  says  their  predictions  have  not  been 
verified — The  public  revenue  has  increased,  instead  of  being 


344  ESSAYS    ON    THE     PRINCIPLE? 

diminished :  Commerce  has  expanded,  instead  of  being  de- 
stroyed :  Navigation  has  been  extended,  instead  of  being  im- 
paired :  Prices  have  fallen,  and  not  risen :  Virtue  has  flourish- 
ed, and  vice  decayed.  These  positions,  it  must  be  remembered, 
are  put  forth  by  a  gentleman  now  aspiring  to  rule  the  destinies 
of  this  Confederacy  of  Republics.  We  have  a  right  to  expect, 
therefore,  that  he  did  not  offer  them  hap-hazard,  but  that,  be- 
fore he  risked  his  reputation  as  a  statesman  upon  them,  he  had 
examined  into  their  correctness.  We  shall  soon  see  how  the 
fact  is ;  and  here  we  shall  take  occasion  to  remark,  that  all  the 
reasoning,  on  the  part  of  the  advocates  of  Free  Trade,  as  to 
the  effects  anticipated  from  the  restrictive  system,  must  be  con- 
strued relatively  to  the  existing  population — thus  :  if  it  be  said 
that  revenue  and  commerce  will  be  diminished  by  the  restric- 
tive system,  the  fair  construction  would  be  that  the  ratio  of 
each  to  the  population  would  be  diminished,  and  not  that  the 
simple  aggregate  amount  would  be  less.  It  never  could  have 
been  intended,  by  those  who  wrote  against  the  restrictive  sys- 
tem when  the  population  of  the  U.  States  was  ten  millions,  that 
an  increase  of  duties  would  diminish  commerce  so  that,  after  the 
population  should  increase  to  twenty  millions,  the  aggregate  of 
imports  and  exports  would  certainly  be  less  in  amount.  The 
prophecy  would  be  fully  made  out,  if  it  could  be  shown  that  the 
imports  and  exports,  per  head,  were  diminished.  That  this  has 
been  the  case,  we  shall  undertake  to  demonstrate,  from  the  Of- 
ficial Reports  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  which  we  pre- 
sume will  be  of  sufficient  authority  to  stand  up  against  the  bare 
allegation  of  any  individual,  be  he  whom  he  may. 

The  following  Table  exhibits  the  net  revenue  derived  from 
commerce  in  the  fifteen  years  specified,  brought  down  to  the 
latest  year  of  which  any  report  has  been  published — omitting 
the  fractions  of  a  dollar : 

1815  -     -  $36,306,022.     Free  Trade  at'ter  the  war. 

1816  -     -      27,484,100.     Same. 

1817  -     -      17,524,775.     Tariff"  of  1816  in  operation. 

1818  -     -     21,828,451.     Same. 

1819  -     -      17,116,702.     Same. 

1820  -     -      12,4i49,556.     Same— predictions  fully  verified. 

1821  -     -      15,898,434.     Country  began  to  recover,   the 

1822  -     -     20,500,775.         natural  causes  of  prosperity, 

1823  -     -      17,008,570.         overpowering    the    retarding 

1824  -     -     20,385,430.         operation  of  the  Tariflf. 

1825  -     .     24,358,202.     Tariff"  of  1824  not  yet  in  full  ope- 

ration. 

1826  .     -     20,248,054.     It  operated  this  year. 

1827  -     -     22,472,067.     Country  recovering. 

1828  -     -     24,969,812.     Same. 

1829  -     -     22,192,879.     Thrown  back  bv  Tariff"  of  1828. 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  345 

It  thus  appears,  that,  in  every  instance,  the  new  Tariff  di- 
minished the  revenue ;  but  as  the  credits  given  on  the  duties 
threw  the  payments  to  a  later  period,  and  as  it  took  time  for 
the  merchants  to  find  out,  by  dear-bought  experience,  that  the 
increased  duties  diminished  the  consumption  of  goods,  the  ef- 
fects were  not  visible  until  a  year  or  two  after  the  respective 
laws  were  passed. 

By  the  different  Census'  of  the  United  States,  it  appears  that 
the  population  stood  as  follows  : 

1810 7,230,903. 

1820 9,637,999. 

1830 12,788,742. 

Now  if  we  take  the  first  two  years  in  the  above  table  of  re- 
venue, which  probably  exhibit  something  near  what  would  have 
been  the  revenue  of  the  country  had  the  restrictive  system  not 
been  adopted,  we  shall  have  an  average  revenue  of  $31,895, 
061.  But  we  are  willing  to  make  a  large  allowance  for  the 
fact,  that,  after  the  war,  an  unusual  extent  of  imports  was  call- 
ed for  by  the  wants  of  the  country ;  and  we  will  therefore  be 
content  to  fix  the  amount  of  revenue  at  $25,500,000,  which  is 
an  abatement  of  upwards  of  six  millions  per  annum.  Estimat- 
ing, then,  the  population  at  8,500,000,  we  have  a  revenue 
equal  to  $3  per  head  on  the  whole  population.  Taking  the  last 
two  years  in  the  table,  including  even  one  during  which  the 
fresh  restrictions  had  not  yet  operated,  and  calliag  the  popula- 
tion only  twelve  millions,  we  have  but  $1.96  per  head  as  the 
revenue  collected.  But  if  these  periods  appear  too  short  to 
cast  an  average  upon,  let  us  take  the  first  five  years,  and  we 
shall  find  an  average  revenue  of  $24,052,010,  and,  if  we  as- 
sume 9,000,000  as  the  average  population,  we  shall  have  an 
average  revenue  equal  to  $2.67  per  head.  The  last  five  years, 
on  the  other  hand,  give  an  average  revenue  of  $22,848,206 — 

[less,    IiV    ABSOLUTE    AMOUNT,    THAN    THAT    GIVEN    FROM    1815    TO 

1820 !] — and,  taking  the  population  at  12,000,000,  present  the 
result  of  only  $1.90  per  head.  We  now  ask  the  intelligent  and 
honest  reader  whether  he  thinks  Mr.  Clay  has  made  out  his 
case  ? — and,  if  not,  whether  it  is  a  proof  of  wisdom  for  a  man, 
who  seeks  the  confidence  of  the  nation,  to  advance  such  ran- 
dom positions  as  the  one  we  have  examined  ? 

We  shall  now  examine  the  second  position  of  Mr.  Clay,  in 
which  he  asserts  that  the  predictions  of  the  Free  Trade  party 
have  not  been  verified  in  regard  to  the  diminution  of  com- 
merce. And  here  we  claim  the  same  right  to  insist  that  the 
diminution  predicted  could  only  be  construed  to  have  refer- 
ence to  population.  lor  example,  suppose  it  had  been  predict- 
ed, when  the  population  was  five  millions,  and  the  production 
of  wheat  fifty  millions  of  bushels  per  annum,  that  certain  mea 


346 


ESSAYS    ON    THE     PRINCIPLES 


sures  would  diminish  the  quantity  of 
tress;  and  suppose  the  population  sh 
to  ten  millions,  and  the  production  of 
five  millions  of  bushels,  instead  of  a 
not  the  prediction  have  been  verified  1 
were  half  starved,  if  not  tiie  whole  of 
swer  in  the  affirmative. 

The  Exports  of  the  United  States, 
of  which  the  official  statements  have 
follows : 


wheat,  and  produce  dis- 
ould  afterwards  increase 
wheat  should  be  seventy- 
hundred  millions,  would 
We  think  that  those  who 
the  population,  would  an- 

for  the  last  fifteen  years, 
been  pubhshed,  were  as 


1816 $81,920,452. 

1817 87,671,569. 

1818 93,281,133. 

1819 70,142,521. 

1820 69,691,669. 

1821 64,974,382. 

1822 72,160,281 

1823 74,699,030 

1824 75,986,657 

1825 99,535,388. 

1826 77,595,322 

1827 82,324,827 

1828 72,264,686 

1829 72,358,671. 

1830 73,849,508. 

We  have  not  inserted  the  Table  of  Imports  here,  lest  we 
might  confuse  the  reader  with  too  many  figures,  but  it  will  be 
found  in  a  note  below.*  Now  from  the  foregoing  it  will  ap- 
pear, that,  during  the  five  years,  from  1816  to  1820,  both  in- 
clusive, the  average  of  exports  was  $80,541,469  per  annum, 
being  equal  to  $8.95  per  head  of  the  population,  which  did  not 
exceed  9,000,000.  And  it  will  also  appear,  that,  for  the  five 
years,  from  1826  to  1830,  both  inclusive,  the  average  was  on- 
ly $75,678,603,  being  less  in  aggregate  amount,  and  only 
equal  to  $6.30  per  head,  estimating  the  population  at  12,000,000. 
Had  the  ratio  of  exports  kept  up  in  proportion  to  the  population, 
the  average  would  have  been  $107,388,625 — that  is  thirty-one 
millions  more  than  the  actual  amount. 

But  we  are  not  content  to  let  the  matter  rest  here.  We  shall 
call  the  attention  of  the  reader  to  the  foreign  commerce  of  the 
country  before  free  trade  was  interrupted  by  the  restrictions 

*  Imports  from  182],  when  the  value  was  first  shown  by  the  custom-house  returns 


1821      - 

$  62,585,724. 

1826      . 

84,974,477. 

J822      - 

8:!,24 1,541. 

1827      - 

79,484,068. 

1823      . 

77,579,267. 

1828       - 

88,500  824. 

1824      - 

80,-549007. 

18i9      - 

74,492,527. 

1825      - 

96,340,075. 

1830      - 

70,876,92a 

OF    FREE     TRADE.  347 

which  commenced  in  1808,  with  the  embargo.     Our  exports 
during  the  ten  years  preceding  that  measure  were  as  follows : 

1798 $61,527,097. 

1799 78,605,522. 

1800 70,971,780. 

1801 94,115,925 

1802  ....  72,483,160. 

1803  ....  55,800,033. 

1804  -         -         .         -  77,699,074. 

1805 95,566,021. 

1806     -         .         .         -         -  101,536,963. 

1807 108,343,150. 

The  average  of  the  above  ten  years  is  $81,670,872.  Now 
as  the  population  in  1800  was  5,319,762,  and  in  1810  was 
7,230,903,  it  will  be  fair  to  estimate  the  average  population 
during  those  ten  years  at  6,000,000,  which  would  show  an  ex- 
port equal  to  $13.61  per  head  of  the  population,  nhich  is  more 
than  double  the  amount  exported  at  this  day.  And,  taking 
these  ten  years  as  a  basis  of  calculation  of  what  the  commerce 
of  the  country  would  have  been,  had  it  not  been  interrupted  by 
restrictions,  we  may  fairly  conclude  that,  at  this  day,  our  ex- 
ports would  have  been  $176,953,556,  the  proportion  which 
would  correspond  to  the  increase  of  population  from  six  to  thir- 
teen millions,  instead  of  a  hundred  millions  per  anmim  less. 

It  has  been  thus  demonstrated,  as  we  think,  that  Mr.  Clay's 
declaration,  that  "  our  foreign  commerce  has  been  greatly 
nourished  and  extended  by  its  operation,  (viz.,  the  operation  of 
the  American  System,)  "  changing  only  some  of  its  subjects," 
is  not  established;  and  we  challenge  him,  or  any  of  his  friends, 
by  any  process  of  reasoning,  to  make  out  his  case. 

Let  us  now  see  what  he  says  about  our  Navigation :  "  Our 
navigation,  and  especially  the  most  valuable  part  of  it,  has  been 
rapidly  extended."  In  showing  that  this  position  is  as  errone- 
ous as  the  rest,  we  shall  rely  upon  the  olRcial  documents.  The 
following  is  a  comparative  view  of  the  registered  and  enrolled 
and  Hcensed  Tonnage  of  the  United  States,  from  1815  to  1829, 
inclusive,  expressed  in  tons  and  95ths  of  a  ton : 

Registered.     Enrolled  ^'  Licensed.        Total. 


1815  ■ 

•  854,294  74 

-  513.833  04  - 

1,368,127  78 

1816  ■ 

■  800,759  63 

-  571,458  85  - 

.   1,372,218  53 

1817  ■ 

•  809,724  70 

-  590,186  66  - 

.  1,399,911  41 

1818  . 

•  606,088  64 

-  609,095  51   ■ 

.  1,225,184  20 

1819 

-  612,930  44 

-  647,821  17  ■ 

•  1,260,751  61 

1820 

-  619,047  53 

-  661,118  66  . 

.  1,280,166  24 

1821 

-  619,096  40 

-  679,062  30  ■ 

.  1,298,958  70 

1822  • 

■  628,150  41 

-  696,548  71  • 

.  1,324,699  17 

1823 

-  639,920  76 

-  696,644  87  ■ 

.  1,336,565  ')8 

348 


l» 

ESSAYS    ON    THE     PRINCIPLES 

Registered.     Enrolled  Sf  Licensee 

I        Total. 

1824 

-     669,972  60     -     719,190  37     - 

1,389,163 

02 

1825 

-     700,787  08     -     722,323  69     - 

1,423,111 

77 

1826 

-     737,978   15     -     796,212  68     - 

1,534,190 

83 

1827 

-     747,170  44     -     873,437  34     - 

1,620,607 

78 

1828 

-     812,619  37     -     928,772  50     - 

1,741,391 

87 

1829 

-     650,142  88     -     610,654  88     - 

1,260,797 

81 

The  reader  will  be  surprised  to  observe  in  the  foregoing  ta- 
ble, so  great  a  falling  oif  in  the  tonnage,  from  1828  to  1829, 
as  nearly  half  a  million  of  tons ;  and  it  will  be  but  fair  to  in- 
form him,  that  for  many  years  prior  to  1829  the  custom-house 
returns  had  not  been  corrected  by  deducting  the  tonnage  lost, 
worn  out,  and  sold  abroad.  The  correction  has  now  been 
made,  but  owing  to  the  impossibility  of  correcting  the  error  of 
any  previous  year,  the  real  state  of  the  case  can  perhaps  never 
be  known.  We  think,  however,  that  no  candid  man  who 
would  cast  his  eye  over  the  preceding  table,  would  aver  that 
any  evidence  was  there  afforded  of  an  increase  of  tonnage 
since  the  year  1816,  when  the  American  System  was  com- 
menced. To  reason  from  erroneous  figures,  is  throwing  away 
time,  and  we  shall  not,  therefore,  attempt  to  do  it.  But  we 
will  maintain,  that  even  if  it  could  be  shown,  that  our  naviga- 
tion has  been  increased  in  absolute  amount  of  tonnage,  it  would 
aflford  no  evidence  whatever  of  the  prosperity  of  commerce,  as 
an  insulated  fact.  For  instance,  we  maintain  that,  if  the  tonnage 
in  1815  had  been  only  1,000,000,  and  in  1829  was  1,260,797, 
it  would  afford  no  evidence  of  increased  commerce.  And 
why  1  Because,  since  the  former  period  the  prices  of  all  com- 
modities, foreign  and  domestic,  have  been  so  greatly  reduced 
that  the  same  value  of  articles  require  more  tonnage  to  trans- 
port them.  When  coffee  was  at  twenty  cents  a  pound  in  the 
West  Indies,  one  vessel  could  bring  a  value  which  it  would 
now  require  three  to  carry.  The  same  may  be  said  of  most 
other  articles.  Fifty  millions  of  dollars,  exported  and  import- 
ed, will  probably  employ  half  as  many  vessels  again  as  they 
used  to  do,  and  the  reason  why  the  tonnage  has  not  increased 
with  the  fall  of  goods,  is  owing  to  the  improved  skill  in  ship- 
building and  increased  science  in  navigation,  by  which  a  given 
number  of  vessels  will  make  half  as  many  voyages  again  in  a 
year  as  they  used  to  do.  Thus  it  appears,  that  not  only  has 
Mr.  Clay  staked  his  reputation  upon  the  denial  of  a  proposition 
which  is  not  only  a  correct  one  when  examined  with  the  libe- 
rality due  to  honest  reasoning,  but  is  even  true  to  the  very 
letter.  Our  navigation  has  been  diminished  by  the  Tariff  po- 
licy ;  and,  in  reference  to  our  registered  tonnage,  no  perverse 
imagination,  with  the  foregoing  table  before  it,  could  undertake 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  349 

to  maintain  that  the  registered  tonnage  of  1829  was  greater 
than  that  of  1815. 

As  to  the  increase  of  the  coasting  trade,  which  Mr.  Clay, 
contrary  to  the  sound  rules  of  political  economy,  which  teach 
that  no  one  branch  of  navigation  can  long  remain  more  profit- 
able than  another,  where  capital  and  labour  are  left  free  to 
flow  into  it,  it  is  quite  probable  that  there  may  have  been  some 
increase  to  it — which  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  when  we  re- 
collect the  great  number  of  steamboats  built  since  1815,  and 
which  are  all  included  amongst  the  enrolled  and  licensed  ton- 
nage. This  increase,  however,  is  not  an  overbalance  for  the 
diminution  of  the  registered  tonnage,  as  may  readily  be  seen 
from  a  reference  to  the  table,  and,  to  speak  of  it  as  a  gain,  is 
perfectly  idle. 

The  position  asserted  by  Mr.  Clay,  that  the  Tariff  has  made 
the  protected  articles  cheap,  has  been  too  often  refuted,  in  this 
journal,  to  need  any  further  exposure  of  its  utter  destitution 
of  facts  to  support  it.  It  is  the  story  of  the  little  boy  and  the 
tide,  and  argues,  on  the  part  of  any  one  who  employs  it  as  an 
argument,  either  a  culpable  neglect  to  seek  for  the  truth,  or  a 
wilful  perversion  of  it  after  it  has  been  acquired.  We  have 
published  in  this  paper  a  list  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  articles, 
with  their  prices  in  1813  and  1831,  and  have  shown  most  con- 
clusively that  every  one  of  them  had  fallen  in  price,  excepting 
only  the  following  twelve,  viz  :  pig-copper,  opium,  beaver  skins, 
hoop-iron,  under  leather,  pine  scantling,  wooden  hoops,  dry 
yellow  ocre,  Bordeaux  brandy,  tortoise  shell,  English  whiting, 
and  claret  bottles.  This  list  included  every  commodity  which 
was  quoted  in  the  two  prices  current  from  which  we  made  up 
the  comparative  statement,  and  consequently  embraced  articles 
which  were  subject  to  high  duties,  to  low  duties,  and  to  no  du- 
ties at  all,  and  afforded  evidence,  which  no  honest  man  could 
reject,  that  our  high  duties  were  not  the  cause  of  the  decline 
in  price. 

As  to  the  last  charge  of  false  prediction,  made  by  Mr.  Clay, 
namely,  that  "  the  system  would  be  a  fruitful  source  of  vice  and 
immorality  and  depravity,"  we  think  it  disproved  by  the  late 
assemblage  of  a  Convention  at  New  York  of  the  Manufactur- 
ers, for  the  purpose  of  endeavouring  to  prevent  frauds  on  the 
revenue.  We  published,  not  long  since,  the  proceedings  of  a 
meeting  at  Providence,  at  w'hich  it  was  admitted  that  smug- 
gling and  perjury  to  a  great  extent  were  now  carried  on  ;  and, 
if  this  be  not  vice,  and  immorality,  and  depravity,  we  know 
not  what  may  be  so  called.  In  regard  to  the  morals  of  the 
people  employed  in  factories,  a  prophecy  of  injurious  results 
can  hardly  be  pronounced  to  have  failed  at  so  early  a  day  as 
the  present.  The  system  has  not  yet  had  time  to  work,  and, 
even  if  it  has,  the  immorality  to  which  it  has  given  rise  is  not 
2G 


350  ESSAYS    ON    THE     PRINCIPLES 

of  that  sort  which  reaches  the  knowledge  of  the  public.  We 
have,  nevertheless,  been  told,  that  at  a  village  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  this  city,  where  a  number  of  manufactures  are  carried 
on,  nocturnal  revellings  and  tavern  dances  are  not  unfrequent, 
such  as  certainly  would  not  take  place  if  the  young  people  there 
employed  were  scattered  through  the  country  upon  the  farms 
from  which  they  have  been  withdrawn,  to  the  great  inconve- 
nience and  injury  of  the  families  who  are  thus  deprived  of  their 
labour.  That  the  factories  do  not  aiford  the  wide  relief  which 
was  promised  by  the  friends  of  the  system,  is  proved  from  the 
fact,  so  often  repeated  by  Mr.  Matthew  Carey,  that  there  are 
in  the  Northern  cities  many  thousands  of  women  who  are  des- 
titute of  employment. 

But  we  entirely  deny  the  possibility  of  any  improved  condi- 
tion of  the  labouring  people,  as  a  body,  by  any  system,  the  ten- 
dency and  design  of  which  is  to  diminish  the  total  mass  of  pro- 
ducts. It  is  impossible  that  a  people  can  fare  so  well  under 
laws  which  prohibit  them  from  buying  cheap  clothing  and  cheap 
groceries,  as  they  would,  were  there  no  such  laws ;  and,  con- 
sequently, to  attempt  to  cure  distress  arising  from  the  want  of 
articles  of  necessity,  by  insisting  that  there  shall  be  fewer  of 
them  than  there  otherwise  would  be,  is  just  as  absurd  as  it  would 
be  for  a  physician  to  attempt  to  cure  the  debility  brought  on 
by  a  copious  effusion  of  blood  by  a  further  resort  to  the  lancet. 
This  is  common  sense.  Any  man  that  wishes  to  see  it,  can 
see  it,  and  we  are  of  late  very  much  inclined  to  the  opinion 
that  there  are  in  our  community  more  knaves  than  fools. 

To  conclude,  Mr.  Clay  thinks  "it  is  vain  that  the  opponents 
of  the  system  seek,  by  subtle  and  ingenious  solutions,  to  ac- 
count for  the  gratifying  fact — the  fact  itself  falsifies  their  pre- 
dictions, and  it  is  worth  a  thousand  hair-splitting  theories." 
Now  this  quotation  shows  that  Mr.  Clay  has  never  read  any  of 
the  arguments  of  the  opponents  of  his  system,  for  they  certain- 
ly advance  no  hair-splitting  theories.  Where  is  the  hair-split- 
ting, when  we  say  that  if  there  was  no  duty  on  sugar  it  would 
be  three  cents  per  pound  cheaper  than  it  is  1 —  if  there  was 
none  upon  iron  it  would  be  $37  per  ton  cheaper  than  it  is  ? — 
that  if  there  were  none  upon  cotton  and  woollen  goods  they 
would  be  30  to  50  per  centum  cheaper  than  they  are  ?  It  is  a 
hair-splitting  theory  which  denies  these  facts,  not  which  asserts 
and  proves  them.  Let  these  facts  be  disproved,  and  then  Mr. 
Clay  may  talk  of  theories.  A  system  must  be  a  feeble  one, 
that  can  only  be  supported  by  postulates — by  bare  assertion, 
without  proof  Such  a  system  is  Mr.  Clay's  system — and, 
whatever  may  be  his  opinion  on  the  subject,  we  feel  quite  as- 
sured that  it  has  seen  its  best  days. 


OF    FREE    TRADE  351 


ESSAY    No.    C  V  I  I. 

JONE    1,    1831. 

Horse  shoes  imported  ready  made.  Cost  of,  shewn  by  reference 
to  an  invoice.  Foreign  pig  iron  iynported  as  necessary  to 
make  machinery  for  domestic  manufactures,  so  that  the  duty 
upon  it  of  fifty  per  cent,  is  at  rear  with  the  American  Sys- 
tem. 

THE  advocates  of  the  Restrictive  System  say,  that  nothing 
hni  facts  can  produce  any  impression  upon  their  reasoning  fa- 
culties. They  despise  theories,  although  the  proposition  that 
two  and  two  are  four  is  a  theory.  As  we  are  obliged,  then,  to 
take  them  in  their  own  way,  we  shall  submit  for  their  inspec- 
tion the  following  fact : 

Every  body  knows  that  there  is  a  duty  upon  iron  of  $37  per 
ton,  and  that  the  farmers,  mechanics,  and  other  working-men 
have  been  cajoled  into  the  belief  that  this  duty  has  been  im- 
posed for  the  encouragement  of  the  industry  of  blacksmiths 
and  other  artificers,  of  iron.  This  fallacy  was  fully  exposed 
during  the  last  session  of  Congress,  in  a  petition,  signed  by 
three  hundred  Philadelphia  blacksmiths,  who  proved,  most 
conclusively,  that  the  duty,  so  far  from  benefiting  them,  was 
of  infinite  injury  in  depriving  them  of  employment,  and  that, 
in  reality,  not  an  individual  throughout  the  country  was  bene- 
fited, except  the  few  rich  proprietors  of  iron-mines  and  iron- 
works, amounting  probably  to  not  more  than  two  or  three  hun- 
dred in  the  whole  United  States.  We  intend  now^  to  state  a 
case,  to  which  we  invite  the  attention  of  our  farmers. 

A  few  days  ago  we  were  invited  by  a  merchant  of  this  city 
to  visit  his  counting-house,  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  a  sample 
of  horse  shoes,  ready-made,  imported  from  England.  We  did 
so,  and  were  permitted  to  take  the  following  abstract  from  one 
of  his  invoices,  for  the  purpose  of  showing  their  cost.  To  this 
invoice  the  merchant  also  added  the  expenses  actually  paid  by 
him  on  the  importation. 

Invoice  of  Horse  Shoes. 
40  cwt.  of  horse  shoes,  at  16s.  9d.  per  cwt.  -     -  £33  10     0 
Casks  and  packing,     -     -     -      -    £2     9     0 
Duty  and  town  dues,  -     -     -      -        0     2     9 

Export  duty, 0     3     0 

Carriage  of  six  casks,      -     -      -     -  3     7     6 
Carterage  and  porterage,      -      -     -  0     G     0 

Bills  of  lading, 0     3     6 

Insurance  40s.,  Stamp  12s.,        -     -    1     2     0 

£7  13     9 


352  ESSAYS    ON    THE     PRINCIPLES 

Amount  brought  forward,        -     -  £  7  13    9 
Commission  2  1-2  per  cent,     -     -       13     5 

£8  17     2 

42     7     2 


At  par, $  188  27 

Exchange  7  per  cent,  premium,  13  18 


Duties  on  importation,  25  per  cent, 
on  £33  10  0,  including  bond  and 
permit $40  95 

Freight  and  primage,    -     -     -         17  00 


201  45 


57  95 


$259  40 


Equal  to  $5.80  per  100  lbs. 

These  horse-shoes  are  all  finished,  except  turning  up  at  the 
ends,  and  have  the  holes  for  the  nails  already  punched  in  them 
— and,  thai  the  public  may  know  that  there' is  no  mistake  about 
the  cost  of  importation,  we  are  authorized  to  state  that  the  im- 
porter, who  is  a  native  citizen,  and  no  "  British  agent,"  will 
dispose  of  them,  as  far  as  ten  tons,  the  quantity  he  has  on  hand, 
at  six  cents  a  pound,  which  is  but  a  trifle  more  than  the  black- 
smiths in  and  near  our  cities  have  to  pay  for  the  raw  material, 
and  less  than  some  country  blacksmiths,  distant  from  the  sea- 
board, are  obliged  to  pay.  This  is  called  protecting  the  indus- 
try of  mechanics  and  manufacturers,  and  is  the  greatest  hum- 
bug that  was  ever  played  off  against  a  nation. 

Let  us  now  see  how  the  farmers  are  benefited  by  this  duty 
on  iron,  merely  as  regards  horse  shoes.  These  shoes  weigh 
lib.  2oz.  a  piece,  making  4  l-2lbs.  for  a  set.  They  can  there- 
fore be  imported  and  sold  under  a  duty  of  25  per  centum — 
wnich  in  all  conscience  is  duty  enough  for  every  legitimate 
want  of  such  an  economical  government  as  ours  ought  to  be, 
at  27  cents  per  set.  Now  if  these  shoes  were  introduced 
into  general  use,  it  would  diminish  greatly  the  demand  for 
journeymen  blacksmiths,  and  throw  them  out  of  employment, 
as  any  farmer  may  perceive ;  and  it  is  this  circumstance  which 
now  operates  against  their  extensive  sale  in  cities.  The  quality 
of  the  iron  has  been  tried  and  found  to  be  excellent :  but  the  mas- 
ter blacksmiths  hesitate  to  buy  them,  because  the  journeymen 
have  declared  that  they  will  not  let  them  come  into  the  shops. 
The  American  blacksmiths  say  it  will  diminish  the  demand  for 
their  labour,  and  take  the  bread  out  of  the  mouths  of  themselves 
and  families,  in  order  to  benefit  the  English  blacksmiths.  They 
think  it  is  an  outrage  upon  their  rights,  to  lay  so  heavy  a  lax 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  353 

upon  iron  as  to  make  it  an  object  for  merchants  to  import  horse- 
shoes ready  made,  and  they  are  now  preparing  materials  for  a 
fre^h  petition  to  the  next  Congress,  which,  we  tiiinii,  will  pre- 
sent the  subject  in  a  stronger  light  than  it  has  yet  been  exhibit- 
ed in. 

Having  observed  an  advertisement  in  one  of  our  city  pa- 
pers, of  b^nglish  pig  iron  for  sale,  we  had  the  curiosity  to  call 
upon  the  importer  and  inquire  its  price,  subject  as  it  is  to  a 
duty  of  $  12.  50  per  ton.  We  found  the  price  to  be  ^45,  w^hilst 
that  of  American  pig  iron  is  $30  to  $35.  It  seems  that  this 
English  iron  has  peculiar  properties,  from  which  the  American 
is  exempt,  which  renders  it  the  best  adapted  for  all  the  small 
castings  which  belong  to  the  machinery  employed  in  the  cotton 
and  woollen  factories;  so  that  the  duty  of  $12.50  per  ton, 
which  is  ffty  per  centum  upon  the  foreign  cost  of  the  article, 
operates  as  a  tax  precisely  to  that  extent,  upon  that  portion  of 
the  machinery  which  must  needs  be  made  of  this  iron,  on  ac- 
count of  its  fineness  and  its  capabihty  of  being  turned  in  a 
lathe.  Here  we  have  another  instance  in  which  the  American 
System  is  at  war  with  itself.  For  the  encouragement  of  cotton 
and  wool  spinners  and  weavers,  a  tax  upon  all  consumers  of 
cotton  and  woollen  goods,  to  the  extent  of  35  to  225  per  cent., 
is  imposed.  But,  say  the  wool  growers,  we  will  not  agree  that 
you  shall  feed  out  of  our  pans,  unless  you  will  assist  us  to  get 
a  law  authorizing  us  to  eat  out  of  the  pans  of  all  the  rest  of 
the  community.  The  spinners  and  weavers  consent  to  this, 
because,  relying  upon  their  strength  and  their  long  arms,  they 
calculate  that,  upon  the  whole,  they  will  be  able  to  gain  more 
plunder  than  they  will  lose — and  so  a  tax  is  put  upon  wool. 
Then  start  up  the  iron  masters,  and  say,  "  Gentlemen,  we  will 
not  agree  that  you  shall  thrust  your  fingers  into  our  pans  and 
take  out  the  choice  pieces,  unless  you  will  consent  that  we 
shall  come  in  for  our  sop  out  of  all  the  pans  of  the  communi- 
ty." This  modest  request  is  cheerfully  accorded,  under  the 
generous  and  paternal  title  of  "  mutual  protection  ;"  which 
means  nothing  but  mutual  robbery,  besides  the  robbery  of 
all  the  rest  of  the  public  to  boot,  and  a  tax  is  put  upon  iron 
which  draws  from  the  pockets  of  the  whole  body  of  farmers  a 
vastly  greater  amount  than  the  whole  body  of  farmers  derive 
from  the  tax  on  wool. 

But  the  best  of  the  joke  is,  that  the  good  naturcd  public, 
simpleton  as  it  is,  is  made  all  the  time  to  believe  that  these 
burdens,  imposed  upon  their  backs,  rather  tend  to  lighten  than 
to  aggravate  the  load  which  is  already  there  ;  and  they  thus 
exhibit  the  same  sort  of  stultification  as  was  displayed  by  a  late 
inventor  of  a  boat  on  the  Western  waters,  who  said  he  had 
contrived  it  so  that  the  heavier  the  boat  was  loaded  the  faster 
she  would  go.  They  are  even  made  to  believe  that  heavy  taxa- 
2G* 


354  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

tion  sets  a  good  deal  of  American  industry  in  motion.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  the  taxes  incident  to  the  national  debt  of  Great 
Britain  and  the  support  of  the  government,  set  a  good  deal  of 
British  industry  in  motion ;  but  the  mischief  of  it  is,  that  this 
industry  is  working  for  others,  and  not  for  one's  self  And,  ad- 
mitting the  case  to  be  the  same  here,  where  would  be  the  be- 
nefit ?  To  the  man  who  labours,  if  he  is  not  to  enjoy  the  fruits 
of  his  own  industry,  it  is  of  very  little  odds  whether  he  works 
for  the  fund  holders  or  the  manufacturing  monopolists  and  cor- 
porations. 


ESSAY    No.    CVIH. 

JUNE  8,  1831. 

Political  Arithmeticians.  The  Cotton  manufactures  sheion  to 
be  a  heavy  tax  on  the  country.  Hocus-pocus  of  Statistical 
Tables. 

IT  has  always  been  the  policy  of  the  Restrictionists,  not  only 
in  this  country  but  in  all  others,  to  deal  largely  in  figures  ; 
hence  they  have  derived  the  name  of  political  arithmeticians, 
and  they  are  just  as  different  a  class  from  the  political  econo- 
mists, as  book-keepers  are  a  distinct  class  from  the  merchants 
who  plan,  direct,  and  oversee  the  commercial  operations  which 
produce  the  results  to  which  the  functions  of  the  book-keepers 
are  confined.  If  one  of  your  mechanical  book-keepers,  (we 
allude  to  those  who  have  never  studied  the  theory  of  com- 
merce, and  are  only  conversant  with  debits,  and  credits,  and 
balance-sheets,)  were  to  turn  merchant,  he  would  probably 
reason  in  this  way:  "I  perceive  by  the  books  of  my  employ 
er,  that,  upon  an  exportation  of  1000  pounds  of  opium,  to  Chi- 
na, he  cleared  1000  dollars.  Now  if  1000  pounds  give  a  pro- 
fit of  1000  dollars,  it  is  clear  that  100,000  pounds  will  give  a  pro- 
fit of  100,000  dollars — for,  so  says  the  rule  of  three."  He  there- 
fore ships  the  latter  quantity,  overstocks  the  market,  and  sinks 
all  his  capital.  Such  instances  are  of  every  day's  occurrence, 
and  they  are  to  be  ascribed  to  the  want  of  theoretical  know- 
ledge of  the  principles  by  which  commerce  is  governed ;  and 
any  one  may  thus  see  that  an  acquaintance  with  figures  is  not 
enough  to  qualify  a  man  to  reason  correctly  upon  matters 
which  require  a  depth  of  thought.  Figures,  however,  are  ex- 
ceedingly well  adapted  to  mystify  a  subject  where  the  object 
is  to  conceal  the  truth.  A  political  arithinetician — or,  what  is 
ihe  same  thing,  according  to  the  definition  of  Dugald  Stewart, 
a  statistical  collector — very  often  so  completely  buries  himself 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  355 

up  in  figures,  that  he  hardly  knows  himself  to  what  conclu- 
sions his  premises  lead  ;  and,  as  the  mass  of  the  people  are  not 
capable  of  reasoning  analytically,  they  are  carried  away  by 
the  arithmetical  exhibition,  in  the  same  way  that  a  jury,  in  a 
Court  of  Common  Pleas,  is  sometimes  overpowered  by  the  pile 
of  volumes  which  the  case  lawer  has  heaped  up  before  him. 
These  case  lawyers  are  amazingly  popular  with  a  certain  sort 
of  people — and  so  are  the  political  arithmeticians.  Their  volu- 
minous references  are  too  astounding  for  the  ordinary  mind; 
and,  as  many  people  judge  of  the  abilities  of  a  man  by  the  num- 
ber and  size  of  the  books  he  can  quote  from,  they  consider  those 
the  wisest  lawyers  who  can  bring  into  court  the  greatest  num- 
ber of  volumes  of  reports,  and  those  the  wisest  statesmen  who 
can  produce  the  most  statistical  tables.  And  yet  it  not  unfre- 
quently  happens,  that  in  the  whole  pleadings  of  the  lawyer, 
and  in  the  whole  book  of  homilies  of  the  political  arithmeti- 
cians, there  shall  not  be  as  much  brains  as  one  could  put  in  a 
thimble. 

"We  have  been  led  into  these  remarks  from  seeing  the  follow- 
ing specimen  of  statistical  hocus-pocus,  in  the  "  Providence 
American"  of  the  14th  of  May,  transmitted  to  us  by  a  corres- 
pondent : 

"  Effects  of  Manufactures  on  Cofnmerce. — A  mercantile  gen- 
tleman has  favoured  us  with  the  following  Statement  of  Exports 
of  Cotton  from  New  Orleans,  commencing  October  1st,  1830, 
and  ending  April  23d,  1831. 

To  Northern  ports  in  the  United  States : 

New  York bales  27,012 

Boston  26,602 

Providence 12,129 

Philadelphia 3,501 

Baltimore  2,340 

Portsmouth 3,179 

Other  ports 330 

Total  to  Northern  ports  -     -     -  bales  76,293 
To  Foreign  ports,  viz : 

Liverpool,  Glasgow,  and  Greenock      -       118,256 

France 25,573 

Other  European  ports 3,685 

Total  of  foreign  exportation,  -  bales  147,514 

Whole  amount  exported  from  New  Orleans 

in  6  months. bales    223,807 


"  More  than  one-third  of  the  above  exports  have  been  made 


356 


ESSAYS    ON    THE     PRINCIPLES 


coastwise  in  the  United  States,  and  the  most  part  wih  be  ma- 
nufactured into  cloth  by  American  hands,  again  to  employ  a 
large  amount  of  tonnage,  besides  land  transportation,  to  mar- 
kets both  at  home  and  abroad. 

"  The  freighting  of  this  amount  of  cotton  has  employed  31, 
750  tons  of  shipping,  at  an  average  of  250  tons  to  600  bales — 
thus  requiring  127  ships  of  250  tons  each.  The  freight  on  the 
cotton  exported  from  New  Orleans,  into  ports  of  the  United 
States,  at  $5  per  bale,  will  amount  to  $381,465. 

"  Strike  out  this  immense  business,  by  destroying  the  '  ac- 
cursed tariff,'  and  where  will  commerce  look  for  a  substitute 
for  this  valuable  employment  ? — to  say  nothing  of  the  destruc- 
tion to  labour  and  capital  employed  in  the  manufacture  and 
land  transportation  of  the  material  and  manufactured  articles. 

"The  opponents  to  the  tariff  must  give  up  their  argument, 
that  the  American  System  is  injurious  to  commerce.  They 
have  nothing  to  rest  this  theory  upon.  We  have  in  this  esti- 
mate about  one-fourth  the  amount  of  cotton  exported,  abroad 
and  coastwise,  from  all  the  ports  of  the  United  States.  Will 
the  anti-tariff  advocates  point  out  any  injury  to  commerce, 
arising  from  manufactures,  that  can  amount  to  the  one-hun- 
dredth part  of  the  benefits  conferred  upon  it  in  this  item  alone  ?" 

Now  it  appears,  from  the  foregoing  article,  that  merely  be- 
cause 223,807  bales  of  cotton  have  been  exported  from  New 
Orleans  in  six  months,  of  which  one-third  were  shipped  coast- 
wise, it  is  to  be  inferred  that  it  is  sound  policy  for  the  consumers 
of  cotton  goods  in  the  United  States  to  pay  the  Rhode  Island  ma- 
nufacturers three  or  four  cents  a  yard  more  for  their  cotton 
fabrics,  than  they  can  be  had  for  elsewhere.  But  let  us  take 
up  the  writer  upon  his  own  admissions,  and  see  what  we  can 
make  out  of  him.  He  thinks  that  of  this  cotton,  probably  one- 
third  will  be  manufactured  in  the  United  States,  say  75,000 
bales,  and  he  infers  this  because  that  quantity  has  been  shipped 
coastwise,  and  he  makes  little  allowance  for  the  portion  of  this 
quantity  which  will  be  shipped  to  Europe  from  Philadelphia, 
New  York,  and  the  other  cities  to  which  it  has  been  exported. 
Now,  75,000  bales,  weighing  300  lbs.  each,  is  22,500,000  lbs. ; 
this  quantity  of  cotton  manufactured  into  cloth,  at  5  yards  to 
the  pound,  which  is  a  fair  average,  would  produce  112,500,000 
yards ;  and  supposing  this  to  be  sold  by  the  manufacturers  to 
the  consumers,  at  three  cents  per  yard  more  than  the  same 
quality  of  cloth  could  be  had  for  from  other  sources,  it  amounts 
to  a  tax  of  only  $3,375,000  upon  the  nation,  for  the  support  of 
the  cotton  manufacturers  who  get  supplied  from  .N'ew  Orleans  ; 
leaving  all  those  who  get  their  supplies  from  Mobile,  Savan- 
nah, Charleston,  Georgetown,  and  the  ports  of  North  Carolina 
and  Virginia,  to  levy  nearly  twice  as  much  besides,  if  it  be  true, 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  357 

as  is  stated  by  the  Tariff  party,  that  the  whole  quantity  manu- 
factured in  the  United  States  is  200,000  bales. 

It  may  perhaps  be  urged,  that  ahhough  the  duty  on  cotton 
goods  of  the  lowest  quality  is  8  3-4  cts.  per  square  yard,  or 
about  6  1-2  cts.  per  running  yard,  (three  quarters  wide,)  and 
that  although  the  manufacturers,  even  to  preserve  the  peace  of 
the  country,  are  not  willing  to  abate  one  jot  of  this  prohibitory 
duty,  whicti  is  conclusive  that  they  cannot  do  without  it,  yet 
that  we  have  rated  the  increased  price  too  high.  Be  it  so.  We 
will  be  satisfied,  upon  this  occasion,  to  take  one  cent  per  yard 
as  the  increased  price,  and  an  account  current  would  stand  thus 
upon  the  basis  furnished  above : 

■pv      (  The  Consu?ner  of  Cotton  Goods,  in  account  cur-  /    p , 

I  rent  icith  the  American  System.  ) 

To  a  tax  of  one  cent  per  yard     By  freight  earned  in  transport- 
on  1 12,500,000  yards  of  cot-         ing  cotton  coastwise, 

ton  cloth, $1,125,000  $381,405 

Balance, 743,535 


$1,125,000 

The  above  balance  shows  the  loss  to  the  concern,  unless  the 
manufacturers  can  show  that  they  sell  their  goods  as  cheap  as 
they  can  be  imported,  and  this  they  can  only  do  by  manifesting 
a  willingness  to  reduce  the  duty  to  a  revenue  scale. 

In  the  foregoing  account  we  have  placed  on  the  credit  side 
the  freight  earned  by  the  vessels  transporting  cotton  coastwise. 
Now  were  it  not  for  the  American  System,  the  same  cotton 
which  was  thus  shipped  coastwise,  would  have  been  transport- 
ed to  Europe,  and  an  equal  freight  would  have  been  earned  by 
the  same  vessels ;  so  that  striking  out  this  item  from  the  ac- 
count, we  should  have  a  true  statement,  presenting  a  positive 
loss  to  the  consumers  of  cotton  fabrics,  of  $1,125,000.  If  the 
Providence  American  will  undertake  to  disprove  our  calcula- 
tions, or  our  reasoning,  we  will  with  pleasure  copy  his  remarks. 


ESSAY    No.    C  I  X 

JUNE    1,    1831. 


The  manufacture  of  houses,  as  a  branch  of  business,  greatly 
injured  by  the  duties  on  iron,  glass,  iron-mongery,  paints, 
and  other  materials  required  for  building. 

ONE  of  the  most  extensive  and  important  branches  of  manu- 
facture carried  on  in  Philadelphia,  is  the  manufacture  ofhoiises. 


358  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

This  branch  of  domestic  industry  affords  employment  to  many 
thousands  of  persons,  such  as  architects,  blacksmiths,  brick- 
layers, bell-hangers,  brick-makers,  carpenters,  carters,  cellar- 
diggers,  glaziers,  gardeners,  labourers,  lime-burners,  lumber- 
merchants,  locksmiths,  masons,  marble-masons,  ornamental- 
painters,  painters,  paper-stainers,  paper-hangers,  plaisterers, 
plumbers,  pump-makers,  stone-cutters,  tinmen,  varnish-mak- 
ers, white-washers,  wall-colourers,  well-diggers,  and  many 
others  ;  and  our  present  object  is  to  inquire  whether  any — and 
if  any,  what — interest,  these  numerous  classes  of  working-men 
have  in  the  continuance  of  the  Restrictive  System. 

Any  one  may  see,  that  the  cheaper  houses  can  be  built,  the 
more  of  them  can  be  sold  or  rented ;  for,  such  in  general  is 
the  desire  of  every  individual  family  to  live  by  itself,  that  no- 
thing induces  people  to  put  up  with  a  room  or  two  under  the 
same  roof  with  another,  but  their  inability  to  pay  the  rent  of  a 
whole  house.  To  enter  seriously  upon  an  argument  to  show 
that  more  houses  can  be  rented,  at  cheap  rents,  than  at  dear 
rents,  would  be  presuming  too  much  upon  the  ignorance  of  the 
reader,  and  we  shall  therefore  content  ourselves  with  this  sim- 
ple remark,  that,  with  respect  to  a  very  large  class  of  persons, 
it  is  a  small  sum  which  decides  whether  a  family  will  go  to 
house-keeping,  or  remain  at  lodgings,  or  as  the  tenant  of  part 
of  a  house.  One  hundred  dollars,  fifty  dollars,  nay,  twenty 
dollars  per  annum,  in  the  rent,  frequently  offers  the  induce- 
ment which  leads  to  the  demand  for  another  house ;  and  as 
the  comfort  of  a  family  is  greatly  promoted  by  having  its  own 
castle,  there  is  no  telling  what  would  be  the  extent  of  the  de- 
mand for  houses,  in  all  our  commercial  cities,  if  houses  were 
built  at  as  cheap  a  rate  as  they  could  be  built  at,  if  it  were  not 
for  the  system  of  high  duties.  It  is  well  known  that  a  great 
proportion  of  our  houses  are  built  by  mechanics,  for  sale.  A 
carpenter,  a  brick-layer,  a  plaisterer,  and  others,  frequently 
unite  together,  and  build  a  row  of  houses,  by  each  working  for 
the  other.  Much  of  the  work  is  done  with  their  own  hands 
and  much  of  it  by  apprentices.  If  it  were  not  for  the  tax  upon 
clothing,  and  groceries,  and  upon  every  thing  which  the  mas- 
ter-mechanic and  his  family,  his  apprentices,  and  journeymen, 
consume,  he  could  afford  to  sell  his  house  that  much  cheaper, 
and  make  the  same  profit  he  now  does. 

But  it  is  not  only  the  tax  upon  the  articles  consumed  in  fa- 
milies, which  increases  the  cost  of  houses.  Upon  all  the  iron- 
mongery, such  as  locks,  hinges,  bolts,  bells,  &c.,  there  is  a  con- 
siderable duty — one  which  will  not  be  wanted  after  the  extin- 
guishment of  the  public  debt.  Upon  screws  there  is  a  tax  of 
40  per  centum,  upon  cut  nails  a  tax  of  at  least  two  cents  per 
pound,  and  upon  all  the  iron  work  executed  by  a  blacksmith  a 
tax  equal  to  50  to  150  per  centum  on  the  foreign  cost  of  the 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  359 

iron.  Upon  all  the  window-glass  there  is  an  enormous  tax,  ot 
from  $3  to  $5  per  100  feet.  Upon  the  lead  employed  in  the 
spouts  and  gutters  of  the  roof,  and  in  the  pipes  to  convey  the 
Schuylkill  water  into  the  houses,  yards,  and  bath-houses,  there 
is  also  a  heavy  tax,  of  3  cents  a  pound  upon  the  former,  and  5 
cents  upon  the  latter.  Upon  the  paints  used  inside  and  outside 
of  the  house,  upon  the  fences,  and  back-buildings,  there  is  a 
very  heavy  tax.  Upon  red  and  white  lead  the  tax  is  $5  per 
100  pounds,  and  upon  Spanish  brown  and  yellow  ochre  $1.5C 
per  100  pounds. 

Many  persons  may  perhaps  suppose,  that  the  tax  upon  the 
manufacture  of  houses  is  limited  to  those  articles  which  may 
be  imported  from  abroad  at  a  cheaper  rate.  This,  however,  is 
not  the  case.  There  is  not  a  material  of  any  kind,  used  in  the 
structure  of  a  building,  nor  any  species  of  labour  employed  upon 
it,  which  does  not  cost  more  on  account  of  the  Restrictive  Sys- 
tem. The  brick-maker  charges  more  for  his  bricks  than  he 
otherwise  would  do,  because  his  workmen  are  under  the  ne- 
cessity of  being  paid  more  wages,  owing  to  the  heavy  taxes 
which  it  has  been  the  policy  of  our  paternal  government  to 
impose  upon  the  labouring  classes,  in  the  form  of  high  duties 
upon  groceries,  coarse  cotton  and  woollen  goods,  and  upon  al- 
most every  thing  they  consume.  The  lime-burners  in  the 
country  charge  more  for  lime,  because  their  expenses  are 
increased  in  the  same  way ;  the  wagons  in  which  they  con- 
vey the  lime  to  the  city,  cost  them  more,  on  account  of  the 
duty  on  iron,  and  they  must  therefore  have  more  for  the  car- 
riage. The  same  is  true  of  the  owners  of  stone-quarries.  The 
lumber-cutters  in  North  Carolina,  Pennsylvania,  and  New  York, 
must  all  charge  more  for  boards,  plank,  and  scantling,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  taxes  imposed  upon  all  their  implements  of  trade, 
upon  the  vessels  which  transport  the  lumber,  and  upon  every 
thing  they  eat,  drink,  wear,  and  sleep  under  and  upon.  The 
wages  of  all  labourers  and  mechanics,  of  every  kind,  from  the 
man  who  digs  the  cellar  to  the  one  who  puts  the  last  touch  of 
paint  upon  the  finished  edifice,  are  more  or  less  regulated  by 
the  expense  of  living.  For  if  a  working-man,  at  the  wages 
he  receives  under  high  taxes,  can  comfortably  maintain  himself 
and  family,  he  can  maintain  them  equally  well  if  the  taxes  were 
low,  after  a  considerable  abatement  in  his  price,  which  he 
would  readily  make,  as  it  would  be  the  means  of  giving  him 
more  employment. 

But  we  have  not  yet  enumerated  all  the  burdens  imposed 
upon  the  manufacture  of  houses.  Owing  to  the  taxes  imposed 
upon  the  subsistence  of  the  community,  which  we  have  brought 
into  view,  and  to  those  imposed  upon  the  building  of  houses,  as 
above  described,  the  public  expenses  are  increased :  all  public 
officers  must  be  paid  more  salary  ;  it  costs  more  to  erect  pub- 


360  ESSAYS    ON    THE     PRINCIPLES 

lie  buildings,  to  maintain  the  public  paupers,  to  light  the  city,  to 
pave  it,  and  to  watch  it.  And  will  it  be  believed  that  the  iron 
pipes,  laid  down  to  convey  the  Schuylkill  water  through  the 
ciiy,  which  now  extend  for  many  miles,  cost  so  much  more 
than  they  need  cost,  that,  for  every  four  miles  of  pipe  we  might 
have  had ^'ue  miles?  All  these  causes  operating  together,  in- 
crease the  public  taxes  ;  and  because  the  city,  county,  poor, 
and  health-taxes,  are  higher,  the  owner  of  the  ground  must 
have  more  for  his  ground,  and  the  owner  of  the  house  must 
have  more  rent.  The  ramifications  of  the  high  duty  system 
may  be  traced  throughout  all  the  expenditures  of  the  commu- 
nity, and  we  have  not  a  doubt  but  that  the  whole  cost,  to  the 
nation,  of  collecting  its  revenue,  under  the  existing  regulations, 
amounts  at  least  to  a  tax  of  five  dollars  per  head,  or  sixty-five 
millions  of  dollars  per  annum,  upon  thirteen  millions  of  souls, 
the  actual  population. 

If  the  manufacturers  of  houses  should  any  longer  adhere  to 
a  system  which  operates  so  decidedly  against  them,  and  with- 
out producing  a  single  benefit  to  them,  it  will  be  a  confirmation  of 
the  old  adage,  that  "  Fools  build  houses,"  (Stc. 


ESSAY    No.    ex. 

niNE  15,  1831. 

Proceedings  of  a  Convention  of  Wool  Growers.  Examination 
of  one  of  the  Repm'ts  made  thereto.  Doctrine  of  Minimums 
explained.     Frauds  upon  the  revenue. 

WE  publish  to-day  the  proceedings  of  a  Convention  of  De- 
legates, appointed  by  persons  interested  in  the  growth  and  ma- 
nufacture of  Wool,  held  at  New  York  on  the  18th  of  May  last, 
as  far  as  the  same  have  been  olhcially  published.  A  reference 
to  these  proceedings  will  show  that  a  committee  was  appoint- 
ed to  examine  into  the  subject  of  the  alledged  frauds  on  the  re- 
venue, and  that  another  was  appointed  "  to  take  into  conside- 
ration the  expediency  of  forming  a  JVational  Association,  with 
auxiliary  branches  in  each  state,  having  for  its  object  the  pro- 
curement of  statistical  facts,  the  difTusing  of  information  on  all 
points  relating  to  the  national  industry," — [viz.  the  industry  oj 
the  -protected  manufacturers~\ — "  and  the  sustaining,  by  united 
effort,  that  industry  against  foreign  rivalry ;"  that  is,  prevent 
the  people  from  having  cheap  goods. 

We  propose  briefly  to  examine  the  first  of  these  reports, 
and,  before  so  doing,  we  shall  trouble  the  reader  with  a  few 
preUminary  remarks,  explanatory  of  the  doctrine  of  minimums. 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  361 

A  man,  unskilled  in  the  science  of  legislation  as  it  is  carried 
on  at  Washington,  who  should  take  up  a  report  of  the  ►Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasuiy,  giving  a  statement  of  the  revenue  deriv- 
ed from  imports,  would  be  able  to  discover  no  duty  imposed 
upon  woollen  cloths  of  a  higher  rate  than  fifty  per  centum,  and 
he  would  very  naturally  infer  that  no  higher  duty  was  charged 
upon  any.  It  would  appear  to  him  that  the  official  reports  of 
the  Treasury  Department  would  carry  on  their  face  the  impress 
of  truth,  for  he  would  suppose  that,  as  they  must  be  drawn  up 
in  conformity  with  the  law^s,  and  that  as  in  the  legislation  of  a 
govei'nmcnt  created  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people,  no  ma- 
jority of  Congress  would  be  so  daring  as  to  practice  fraud  in 
the  enactment  of  laws,  with  the  express  design  of  concealing 
from  the  people  the  real  extent  of  their  burdens,  he  would  na- 
turally conclude  that,  when  he  saw  fifty  per  cent,  recorded  as 
the  maximum  of  duty,  it  would  not  be  possible  that  he  should 
be  actually  paying  one  hundred  per  cent.  And  yet  such  is  the 
fact — -'a  fact  which,  if  it  could  only  be  brought  into  the  view  of 
those  who  are  the  victims  of  the  fraud,  would  of  itself  be  suffi- 
cient to  overthrow  the  American  System,  as  a  wicked  im- 
posture. But  it  may  be  asked,  "  Can  it  be  possible  that  a  man 
pays  a  hundred  per  centum  duty,  when  the  law  says  he  only 
ought  to  pay  fifty  ?"  It  is  even  so — and  the  mystery  is  soon 
cleared  up,  when  it  is  stated  that  the  very  law  which  says  you 
shall  pay  fifty  per  centum  ad  valorem,  also  says  a  yard  of  cloth 
which  costs  fifty-one  cents  shall  be  valued  at  a  dollar.  Sup- 
pose that  Congress,  in  laying  internal  duties  during  the  last 
war,  had  enacted  a  law  in  this  form  :  "  The  tax  upon  a  cop- 
per still  shall  be  one  dollar  per  gallon  upon  the  capacity  of  the 
still,  -provided  that  a  still  which  can  hold  only  ffty-one  gallons 
shall  be  deemed  to  hold  one  hundred  gallons,  and  shall  pay 
duty  accordingly," — what  think  you,  gentle  reader,  would  the 
'whiskey  boys'  of  Pennsylvania  have  said  to  such  a  law?  We 
are  very  much  mistaken  if  some  of  them  would  not  have  hoist- 
ed the  liberty-pole  as  they  did  in  old  times,  denounced  the  ma- 
jority of  Congress  as  guilty  of  an  outrageous  fraud,  and  put  the 
collector  of  the  tax  at  defiance.  The  discreet  part  of  the  com- 
munity, to  a  man,  would  have  condemned  such  unmanlv  and 
insidious  conduct,  and  would  have  said,  like  patriots.  "  If  the 
country  requires  that  there  should  be  a  duty  of  two  dollars  a 
gallon  on  the  capacity  of  the  stills,  let  Congress  say  so  above- 
board  like  men,  and  not  take  from  us  two  dollars,  when  we 
think  we  are  only  paying  one.  Fair  play  is  a  jewel.  The  peo- 
ple have  a  right  to  know  how  much  they  pay  towards  the  sup- 
port of  the  government,  and  it  is  a  violation  of  their  rights  if 
any  thing  is  concealed  which  can  be  made  palpable." 

This  case  of  the  still  is  the  precise  case  of  the  woollens :-~ 
the  law  savs  that  cloth,  costing  abroad — 
2H 


362 


ESSAYS    ON    THE     PRINCIPLES 


"  Between  50  and  100  cents  per  square  yard,  shall  be  valued 
at  $  1.00  ; — between  100  and  250  cents  per  square  yard,  shall  be 
valued  at  $2.50  ; — between  250  and  400  cents  per  square  yard, 
shall  be  valued  at  $4.00." 

And  the  duty  is  charged  accordingly,  upon  the  latter  prices, 
at  the  rate  o{  forty-five  per  centum.  The  result  of  this  mode 
of  cheating  the  pubhc — (we  like  to  call  things  by  their  right 
names) — is  this  : 

The  duty  on  cloth  which  costs 
51  cents  per  square  yard,  is 
60  cents     .     "     -     "     . 


70  cents  -  "  -  " 

80  cents  -  "  -  " 

90  cents  -  "  -  " 

100  cents  -  "  -  " 

101  cents  -  "  -  " 
125  cents  -  «  -  « 
1,50  cents  -  "  -  " 
175  cents  -  "  -  " 
200  cents  -  "  -  " 
225  cents  -  "  -  " 

250  cents  -  "  -  " 

251  cents  -  "  -  " 
275  cents  .  "  .  " 
300  cents  -  "  -  " 
325  cents  -  "  -  " 
350  cents  -  "  -  " 
375  cents  -  "  -  " 

400  cents  -  "  -  " 

401  cents,  and  all  above 


88  per  cent. 
75  per  cent. 
64  per  cent. 
56  per  cent. 
50  per  cent. 
45  per  cent. 
Ill  per  cent. 
90  per  cent. 
75  per  cent. 

64  per  cent. 
56  per  cent. 

50  per  cent. 
45  per  cent. 
71  per  cent. 

65  per  cent. 
60  per  cent. 
55  per  cent. 

51  per  cent. 
48  per  cent. 
45  per  cent. 
50  per  cent. 


But,  not  only  is  this  mode  of  fixing  the  duty  a  fraud — it  is 
even  a  fraud  to  call  the  duty  an  ad  valorem  duty.  It  is  as  much 
a  specific  duty  as  that  upon  sugar,  and  operates  precisely  in 
the  same  way — that  is,  the  lower  the  quality  of  the  article,  the 
higher  the  duty.  Thus  the  poor  or  working  man,  who  is  oblig- 
ed to  be  content  with  coarse  cloth,  is  made  to  pay  from  45  to 
111  per  centum,  whilst  the  rich  man  pays  no  more  than  50  per 
centum  for  the  very  finest  of  his  apparel.  This  is  the  system 
called  the  "  American  System" — this  is  the  policy  which  men, 
professing  to  consult  the  interests  of  the  farmers  and  working 
classes,  are  endeavouring  to  render  "  the  settled  policy  of  the 
country" — and,  unfortunately,  this  is  the  delusion  which  has 
now  such  a  strong  hold  upon  a  majority  of  the  people  of  the 
Northern  states,  as  to  lead  them  to  regard  as  their  foes  the 
philanthropists,  the  statesmen,  and  the  patriots,  who  are  now 
labouring  to  extricate  them  from  the  fatal  heresy. 

The  first  report  above  referred  to,  commences  by  stating  what 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  363 

the  law  is  relative  to  the  valuation  of  goods  under  the  different 
minimums,  and  the  committee  then  proceed  to  lay  down  some 
positions,  and  to  draw  from  them  their  inferences. 

The  first  case  they  adduce  is  that  of  80,000  yards  of  cloth 
having  been  imported  by  one  concern,  the  principal  part  of 
which  was  entered  at  a  value  not  exceeding  Gs.  9d.  per  running 
yard,  which  gives  the  cost,  per  square  yard,  at  about  98  or  99 
cents,*  and  brings  it  under  the  one  dollar  minimum.  The  com- 
mittee are  of  opinion  that  this  cloth  must  have  cost  more  than 
6s.  9d.  per  running  yard,  and  they  form  this  opinion  from  two 
considerations :  one  is,  that  the  goods  were  shipped  to  order, 
and  not  imported  by  the  consignee  on  his  own  account,  which 
they  probably  supposed  involved  the  shipment  in  a  sort  of  mys- 
tification ;  and  the  other  is,  that  the  prices  which  these  goods 
brought  in  the  New  York  market  were  higher  than  goods  cost- 
ing as  low  as  6s.  9d.  ought  to  command. 

As  to  the  first  consideration,  the  committee  admit  that  the 
mode  of  consignment  to  order  is  not  necessarily  an  indicaiion 
of  fraud.  In  this  they  are  correct.  Shipments  are  very  often 
made  in  foreign  countries,  and  the  bills  of  lading  filled  up  with- 
out the  name  of  any  consignee  ;  in  this  case,  the  term  "  to  or- 
der" is  used,  to  signify  that  the  goods  are  to  be  delivered  to 
such  person  as  the  shipper  may  assign  the  bill  of  lading  to,  by 
endorsement.  This  is  sometimes  done  where  a  shipper  wishes, 
before  his  property  gets  into  the  hands  of  a  consignee,  to  as- 
certain the  state  of  his  credit ;  in  which  case  he  transmits  the 
invoice  to  a  third  party,  to  whose  discretion  the  delivery  of  the 
bill  of  lading  is  intrusted.  It  may  occur,  owing  to  a  fraudulent 
intention,  but  we  are  not  aware  of  any  instance  in  which  a 
fraud  could  be  perpetrated  by  an  absent  owner,  by  filling  up  the 
bill  of  lading  to  order,  better  than  by  designating  the  consignee. 
In  either  case,  the  consignee  can  only  swear  to  the  invoice  ac- 
cording to  the  best  of  his  knowledge  and  belief;  and  if  there 
is  any  reason  to  believe  that  fradulent  invoices  are  made  out 
by  foreign  shippers,  we  know  of  no  remedy  but  to  prohibit  fo- 
reigners from  shipping  goods  to  this  country  at  all.  This  is  pos- 
sibly the  next  step  in  the  march  of  the  "  American  System," 
which  the  woollen  manufacturers  will  recommend.  And  now 
we  should  like  to  inquire,  what  has  become  of  Mr.  Mallary's 
celebrated  bill  of  May  28,  1830?  Has  it  proved,  as  was  pre- 
dicted, wholly  inefficacious?  The  committee  admit  as  much. 
They  are  forced  to  confess  that,  notwithstanding  their  entire 
belief  in  the  honesty  and  good  faith  of  the  collector  and  ap- 
praisers, and  that  portion  "  of  the  great  body  of  American 
merchants  who  pursue  an  honest  and  honourable  trade,"  it  has 
not  been  practicable  to  prevent  the  undervaluing  of  goods  in 
the  invoices. 

*  The  width  of  this  cloth  is  usually  about  a  yard  and  a  half. 


3G4  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

As  to  the  second  consideration,  the  committee  are  partly 
right,  and  they  are  partly  wrong.  They  have  made  out  their 
case,  \vc  think,  as  to  some  of  the  goods  referred  to,  but  not  as 
to  all ;  and,  as  we  have  been  at  some  pains  to  collect  informa- 
tion on  this  subject,  for  the  correctness  of  which  we  pledge 
ourselves,  we  shall  enter  into  some  details. 

The  committee  infer  that  the  goods  in  question  were  under- 
valued in  the  invoice,  because  they  commanded  in  the  New- 
York  market,  from  $2.50  to  $4.25  per  yard.  From  this  posi- 
tion it  would  seem  to  be  taken  for  granted,  that  goods  costing 
6s.  9d.  per  yard,  or  less,  will  not  command  those  prices.  We 
have  it  in  our  power  to  show,  that  goods,  which  cost  in  Eng- 
land, on  the  14th  of  January,  1831,  6s.  5d.  to  6s.  8d,,  were 
sold,  in  the  Philadelphia  market,  by  the  importer,  to  ivfwiesale 
dealers,  at  from  $2.67  to  $3.20  per  yard,  after  paying  the  full 
duty,  and  leaving  the  importer  a  profit  of  18  per  centum.  We 
have  seen  the  invoice,  and  account  of  sales,  and  from  the  high 
standing  of  the  party,  who,  in  this  community,  for  integrity  and 
character,  stands  second  to  none,  we  pronounce  the  inference 
of  the  committee,  as  to  sales  under  $3.20  per  yard,  as  resting 
altogether  upon  suspicion. 

In  reference,  however,  to  the  cloths  which  have  sold  at  from 
$3.25  to  $4.25,  we  have  equally  strong  authority  for  believing 
that  what  the  committee  states  mmj  be  true.  The  importer 
referred  to  purchased  his  goods  in  England,  for  ca^A,  of  one  of 
the  principal  manufacturing  houses,  and  he  is  of  opinion  that 
no  goods  could  have  been  laid  in  cheaper,  by  others,  unless  in 
those  cases  where  persons  on  the  spot,  looking  out  for  bar- 
gains, should  sometimes  find  chances  of  speculation,  which  a 
regular  importer,  who  orders  his  goods  from  the  manufacturer, 
cannot  enjoy.  It  sometimes  happens  that  a  stock  of  goods  be- 
longing to  the  estate  of  a  bankrupt  trader,  is  placed  under  the 
auctioneer's  hammer,  and  sold  at  a  sacrifice.  It  also  sometimes 
happens  that  a  manufacturer,  who  is  pressed  for  money,  forces 
his  goods  otF  at  auction,  or  procures  an  advance  upon  them,  of 
a  brokei*,  who  is  authorised  to  force  a  sale  in  case  of  their  non- 
redemption.  In  any  of  these  cases,  a  piece  of  cloth  may  very 
well  come  into  the  possession  of  a  bona  fide  purchaser,  at  6s. 
9d.  per  yard,  which  the  manufacturer  would  have  held  at  a 
higher  price ;  and  we  can  see  no  difficulty  in  believing  that  one 
merchant  may  ship  to  this  country  the  same  quality  of  cloth, 
at  6s.  9d.,  for  which  another  would  have  to  pay  ten,  fifteen,  or 
twenty  per  cent,  higher.  If,  however,  it  be  true,  as  the  com- 
mittee state,  that  goods  have  been  entered  at  6s.  9d.  per  yard, 
which  have  commanded,  in  the  New  York  market,  as  high  as 
$4  to  $4.25,  the  presumption  of  an  under-valuation,  by  the 
shifper,  would  be  too  strong  to  be  resisted,  although  it  would 
not  necessarily  implicate  the  consignee,  wlio  might  be  a  com- 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  365 

mission  merchant  of  the  highest  character,  selected  for  his  in- 
tegrity, with  the  very  object  the  better  to  conceal  the  fraud. 

Now,  admitting  the  case  to  be  as  represented  by  the  com- 
mittee, what  does  it  prove '(  Nothing  more  than  that  frauds 
upon  the  revenue  will  be  perpetrated  just  in  proportion  as  the 
temptation  is  increased,  and  that  it  is  impossible  to  prevent 
them  by  any  vigilance  at  the  custom-house.  An  intelligent 
importer  has  given  us  his  opinion,  that,  to  guard  effectually 
against  the  possibility  of  fraud,  one  hundred  appraises  would 
be  necessary  at  the  port  of  New  York  alone,  where  such  great 
importations  take  place ;  for,  indeed,  without  the  examination 
of  every  package,  and  even  piece,  what  certainty  can  there  be 
of  fair  valuation  ?  But  this  is  not  all.  One  hundred  apprais- 
ers might  and  would  have  different  opinions  as  to  the  value  of 
cloth,  and  an  article  which  would  be  placed  at  99  cents  by 
one  appraiser,  and  thus  made  subject  to  a  duty  of  46  per  cen- 
tum, might  by  another  be  placed  at  101  cents,  and  thus  be 
made  subject  to  a  duty  of  1 1 1  per  centum.  Every  one  can 
see  that  it  is  the  system  of  minimums  which  creates  nine-tenths 
of  the  temptation  to  fraud.  If  the  duty  on  woollen  cloths  were 
a  bona  fide  duty  of  45  per  centum  ad  valorem,  great  and  op- 
pressive as  it  would  be,  it  would  remove  the  principal  induce- 
ment for  deceptive  valuations.  The  duty  payable  on  a  cloth 
costing  101  to  120  cents  per  yard,  would  be  but  a  trifle  more 
than  the  duty  upon  one  costing  99  cents,  and  this  trifle  w^ould 
be  too  inconsiderable  to  sear  the  consciences  of  any  great  por- 
tion of  the  people.  But  when  the  reward  of  a  false  oath  is 
the  difference  between  46  and  111  per  centum,  there  are  too 
many,  we  fear,  who  would  endeavour  to  persuade  themselves 
that  a  custom-house  oath  is  a  mere  matter  of  form. 

In  the  report  of  the  committee,  under  consideration,  there 
is  one  curious  fact  mentioned,  as  throwing  difficulties  into 
the  way  of  a  correct  appraisement  of  cloths,  which  is,  that  the 
number  of  invoices  presented  at  the  custom-house,  with  low 
valuations,  is  so  great,  that  the  appraisers  are  amazingly  puz- 
zled. Now,  prima  facie,  this  fact  ought  rather  to  be  proof  of 
a  low  price  of  goods ;  for,  upon  what  ground  can  these  in- 
voices be  pronounced  fraudulent  ?  A  number  of  invoices,  cor- 
responding in  prices  and  quality,  are  a  much  better  criterion  of 
cost,  than  the  opinions  of  any  individuals  residing  three  thou- 
sand miles  from  the  market  where  they  were  purchased. 

As  to  the  course  pursued  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasurv, 
and  for  which  he  has  been  found  fault  with,  by  the  committee, 
it  only  proves  how  difficult  it  is  to  execute  laws  where  the 
penalty  is  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  offence.  There  is  some- 
thing so  revolting  in  the  idea  of  forfeiting  all  a  man's  proper- 
ty, as  might  very  well  happen,  merely  because  he  was  so  for- 
tunate as  to  purchase  his  goods  in  England  a  few  cents  cheaper 
2  H* 


366  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

per  yard  than  his  neighbour,  that  it  is  not  probable  that  any 
other  decisions  need  be  looked  for  at  the  Treasury  Department, 
unless  fraud  is  too  manifest  to  be  doubted. 

It  is  not  a  little  remarkable  that  the  Committee  on  Frauds 
say  not  a  word  about  smuggling,  which  is  unquestionably  car- 
ried on  to  a  considerable  extent.  They  seem  as  if  they  were 
determined  to  let  the  smugglers  enjoy  the  whole  of  the  protec- 
tion which  their  industry  now  enjoys  under  our  system  of  en- 
couraging domestic  employments.  They  seem  not  to  be  aware, 
tha^  just  in  proportion  as  undervaluations  at  the  custom-house 
are  prevented,  capital  and  industry  will  be  turned  into  the  other 
channel ;  and  we  do  aver,  that,  when  the  system  of  smuggling 
on  the  Northern  frontiers  gets  well  organized,  it  will  be  utterly 
impossible  to  prevent  it  so  long  as  the  duties  afford  a  clear  pro- 
fit of  45  to  111  per  centum.  We  do  not  mean  to  say  that  frauds 
on  the  revenue  should  be  countenanced  in  any  shape,  but  we 
are  firmly  persuaded  that  nothing  can  put  a  stop  to  them  but  a 
reduction  of  the  duties.  It  is  too  much  for  the,  people  of  the 
United  States  to  be  taxed  for  the  support  of  the  government, 
and  an  aristocracy  of  manufacturers,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
for  the  support  of  an  aristocracy  of  smugglers. 


ESSAY    No.    CXI. 

JDNE  22,  1831. 

Free  Trade  Convention  proposed,  to  be  held  at  Philadelphia. 

Anti-Tariff  Convention. — A  number  of  gentlemen,  from  dif- 
ferent states,  favourable  to  the  principles  of  Free  Trade,  hav- 
ing assembled  at  Philadelphia  on  the  6th  of  June,  and  taken  in- 
to consideration  an  Address,*  published  in  the  New  York 
Evening  Post,  recommending  an  Anti-Taritf  Convention,  una- 
nimously 

Resolved,  That  a  Convention,  for  the  purpose  of  securing  the 
efficient  co-operation  of  the  friends  of  Free  Trade,  throughout 
the  United  States,  in  procuring  the  repeal  of  the  Restrictive 
System,  be  held  at  the  Mansion-House  Hotel,  in  the  city  of 
Philadelphia,  at  10  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  Friday,  the  30th 
day  of  September  next ;  and  that  there  be  invited  to  attend  the 
same,  such  citizens,  from  all  the  states  of  the  Union,  without 
distinction  of  party,  who  are  favourable  to  the  object  of  the 
meeting,  as  may  find  it  convenient  to  attend.     It  was  also 

*  This  address  was  written  by  the  late  Henry  D.  Sedgwick,  Esq.  who  was  present  at  the 
meeting. 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  3G7 

Resolved,  That  notice  of  the  said  meeting  be  pubhshed,  and 
that  editors  throughout  the  United  States,  friendly  to  the  cause 
of  Free  Trade,  be  requested  to  give  it  circulation. 


The  Address  referred  to  in  the  foregoing  article,  originally 
published  in  the  New  York  Evening  Post,  and  subsequently  in 
the  Banner,  appeared  with  some  typographical  errors.  A  cor- 
rected copy  is  this  day  presented,  on  our  first  page,  and  a  re- 
ference to  it  will  show  how  many  reasons  there  are  why  the 
opponents  of  restrictive  and  prohibitory  laws  should  exert 
themselves,  and  meet  their  adversaries  with  their  own  wea- 
pons. The  resolution  adopted  at  the  late  meeting  of  the  Manu- 
facturers at  New  York,  to  organize  societies  throughout  the 
country,  for  the  propagation  of  the  fallacies  of  the  American 
System,  supported  as  it  was  by  the  raising  of  a  fund  of  five 
thousand  dollars,  and  the  enrolling  of  one  thousand  subscribers 
for  a  daily  paper  in  New  York,  must  satisfy  any  one  that  no 
effort  will  be  left  untried  to  fasten  upon  us  the  yoke  of  the  re- 
strictive bondage.  If  those  whose  property  is  thus  to  be  sport- 
ed with,  in  order  to  enrich  the  monopolists,  will  not  endeavour 
to  stem  the  current,  at  least  by  concentrating  their  influence 
and  intellectual  powers,  by  assembling  together  and  giving  such 
a  weight  to  their  opinions  as  can  never  be  conferred  in  any 
other  mode,  they  must  prepare  to  submit,  or  to  encounter  the 
hazard  of  revolution.  What  is  chiefly  wanted  at  the  North,  is, 
that  the  people  should  knoir  that  the  complainants  at  the  South 
are  in  earnest.  The  local  divisions  about  the  means  of  redress  is 
consti'ued  into  a  diversity  of  sentiment  as  to  the  real  operation 
of  the  protective  policy  upon  Southern  interests  and  feelings.  Let 
it  be  once  understood  that  the  South  is  unanimous  in  her  convic- 
tion that  the  tariff'policy  is  oppressive  and  unconstitutional,  and 
that  she  will  not  forever  submit  to  usurpations  which  annihilate 
the  liberty,  for  the  preservation  of  which  the  Union  and  the  Con- 
stitution were  framed,  and  a  change  of  policy  may  be  looked 
for.  The  presence,  at  Philadelphia,  at  the  Convention,  in  Sep- 
tember next,  of  some  of  the  distinguished  citizens  of  the  South 
and  Southwest,  would  do  more  to  convince  our  well-disposed 
but  deluded  advocates  of  the  tariff;  that  the  harmony  of  the 
country  requires  a  sacrifice,  than  all  that  could  be  written  in 
the  very  few  papers  which  have  magnanimity  enough  to  give  a 
hearing  to  the  complaints  of  the  planting  states.  We  therefore 
earnestly  press  it  upon  those  gentlemen  who  can  make  it  con- 
venient to  attend,  to  do  so.  Amongst  the  farmers,  planters, 
merchants,  professors  of  political  economy  in  our  various  col- 
leges, lawyers,  physicians,  and  retired  gentlemen,  who  belong 
to  the  side  of  Free  Trade,  there  exists  a  mass  of  intellect, 
Vv'hich  could  be  brought  to  bear  most  advantageously  upon  the 
Northern  states  at  the  present  crisis.     If  the  approaching  oc- 


368  ESSAYS    ON    THE     PRINCIPLES 

casion  is  lost,  another  may  never  be  afforded,  and  future  times 
may  look  back  upon  this  memorable  period,  and  say,  "  How 
possible  it  was  for  a  few  men  to  have  saved  that  Union !"  In 
conclusion  we  state,  that  the  annual  commencement  at  Prince- 
ton College  takes  place  on  the  28th  September,  and  as  there 
are  amongst  the  alumni  of  that  institution  a  great  number  of 
our  distinguished  citizens,  whose  presence  at  the  Convention 
would  be  desirable,  we  mention  the  fact  as  an  additional  in- 
ducement for  their  attendance,  as  it  would  afford  an  opportu- 
nity for  the  admixture  of  the  utile  dulci. 


ESSAY    No.    C  X  I  I . 

JUNE  22,  1831. 

A  CameVs  hair  Shaxcl  shcirn  to  he  the  product  of  domestic  indus- 
try,  although  manufactured  in  India. 

"  WHO  would  give  a  thousand  dollars  for  a  shawl,"  asked  a 
lady  of  our  acquaintance,  the  other  day,  who  had  been  shown 
one  at  a  shop,  at  that  price,  "  when  so  many  poor  people  could 
be  relieved  from  distress  with  such  a  sum  V  The  remark  was 
very  natural,  and  one  which  is  very  often  excited  when  people 
give  extravagant  prices  for  articles  of  dress  or  luxury.  But  are 
we  sure  that  the  rich  man,  who  can  afford  to  spend  large  sums 
in  costly  apparel,  does  not,  by  so  doing,  render  as  great  a  ser- 
vice to  the  poor  as  if  he  gave  his  money  in  alms  ?  Let  us  exa- 
mine the  history  of  this  shawl,  and  see  how  many  people  will 
have  been  benefited  by  its  sale,  and  thus  have  been  prevented 
from  the  necessity  of  asking  alms — which  is  a  far  better  mode 
of  serving  the  poor,  than  giving  them  alms  after  they  are  in 
want ;  for  in  one  case  they  produce  something  in  exchange  for 
the  money  they  receive,  and  in  the  other  case  they  do  not. 

The  shawl  was  a  rich  green,  with  a  splendid  border,  of  what 
is  called  real  camel's  hair.  It  was  made  in  the  East  Indies, 
where  it  possibly  cost  five  hundred  dollars,  the  residue  of  the 
price  being  required  to  pay  freight,  insurance,  interest,  com- 
missions, duties,  and  other  charges,  and  the  importer's  and  re- 
tailer's profits.  The  process  necessary  for  its  manufacture,  and 
for  procuring  the  raw  material  in  India,  gave  a  demand  for  the 
labour  of  a  number  of  persons,  and  its  transportation  to  this 
country  employed  many  more,  such  as  the  seamen  who  navi 
gated  the  ship,  the  mechanics  who  built  her,  and  the  labourers 
who  assisted  in  loading  and  unloading  her.  In  fact,  the  labour- 
ing classes  in  every  country,  who  live  by  their  industry,  may 
be  considered  more  or  less  as  standing  in  need  of  the  patron 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  369 

age  of  the  rich ;  and  if  that  patronage  were  to  be  withheld, 
it  is  easily  to  be  seen  that  they  would  soon  be  placed  in  the  at- 
titude of  paupers,  instead  of  that  of  industrious  producers,  who 
give  an  ecjuivalent  for  what  they  receive.  From  this  it  may  be 
seen,  that  those  who  buy  articles  of  value,  cannot  do  it  without 
giving  employment  to  the  labouring  classes,  which  employment 
it  is  that  keeps  them  from  actual  poverty. 

But  we  expect  to  hear  some  patriotic  American  System  man 
cry  out,  "  This  is  all  true  enough,  but  charity  should  begin  at 
home :  If  our  rich  people  are  inclined  to  expend  their  money 
upon  articles  of  taste  and  luxury,  let  them  give  employment  to 
our  own  citizens,  by  purchasing  articles  of  domestic  produc- 
tion." What !  has  the  American  System  no  bowels  of  com- 
passion for  the  poor  Hindoos  ?  Does  it  teach,  that  philanthropy 
is  no  longer  friendship  to  man,  but  to  one's  own  household  ? 
Does  it  pi-escribe  limits  to  the  spirit  of  benevolence  and  good 
will  due  to  the  whole  human  family  as  children  of  ona  com- 
mon parent,  and  say,  Love  thyself  better  than  thy  neighbour  1 
Does  it  assert  that  the  rule  of  conduct  obligatory  upon  every 
individual,  towards  other  individuals,  is  not  of  equal  obligation 
upon  a  nation  in  reference  to  other  nations  1  We  ask  these 
questions,  not  for  information,  but  to  shame  that  portion  of  the 
champions  of  the  Restrictive  System  who  make  professions  of 
piety,  and  who,  whilst  they  compass  the  whole  earth  to  make 
proselytes  to  their  faith,  are  putting  into  practice  and  main- 
taining a  vile  and  anti-christian  policy,  subversive  of  all  the 
feelings  of  charity  and  universal  benevolence,  which  true  phi- 
lanthropy and  religion  enjoin. 

But  we  will  argue  with  them  upon  their  own  ground — we 
will  take  them  up  upon  their  own  selfish  reasoning — and  will 
show  that  the  purchase  of  this  foreign  shawl,  produced  by  the 
industry*of  Indians,  was  nevertheless  procured  by  domestic  iii- 
dustry.  We  presume  that  no  one  will  deny,  that  that  part  of 
the  price  which  pays  the  ship-owner,  the  seamen,  the  ship- 
carpenter,  the  sail-maker,  the  rigger,  the  mast-maker,  the  ship- 
smith,  the  painter,  the  plumber,  the  block-maker,  the  pilot,  the 
porter,  the  merchant,  the  clerk,  the  retailer,  and  the  various 
others  whose  industry  is  in  part  rewarded  by  the  importation 
of  this  shawl,  is  a  reward  to  American  industry.  And  now,  as 
to  the  other  part  of  the  price,  supposed  to  be  equal  to  five  hun- 
dred dollars.  Was  the  shawl  obtained  for  nothing  ?  We  pre- 
sume no  one  will  assert  this.  It  was  therefore  paid  for :  And 
how  was  it  paid  for  1 

First.  Either  by  shipping  cotton  goods  to  Calcutta,  from 
Boston,  or  some  other  port ;  or, 

Secondly,  By  a  bill  on  London,  transmitted  for  sale  to  Cal- 
cutta; or. 

Thirdly.  By  a  shipment  of  specie. 


370  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

As  to  the  first  mode,  (which  is  quite  a  possible  one,  for  there 
were  cotton  goods  shipped  to  India,  within  the  last  five  years, 
enough  to  pay  for  two  dozen  shawls,)*  any  statistical  collector 
might  see  that  the  fund  was  derived  directly  from  domestic  in- 
dustry; and  it  therefore  wants  no  further  evidence  to  prove 
that  the  shawl  was  the  product  of  American  industry. 

As  to  the  second  mode,  the  bill  upon  London  could  only  have 
been  drawn  upon  some  fund  deposited  there  from  the  sale  of 
some  products  of  American  industry,  shipped  to  London,  or 
some  other  place  ;  and,  in  this  case,  the  shawl  will  have  been 
procured  by  domestic  industry. 

As  to  the  third  and  last  mode,  the  only  point  we  have  to  as- 
certain is,  how  the  specie  was  obtained  by  us.  If  it  came  out 
of  the  mines  in  North  Carolina  or  Georgia,  it  was  clearly  pro- 
duced by  domestic  industry.  But  if  it  came  from  Mexico,  it 
was  paid  for  by  domestic  productions  of  some  kind  or  other ; 
and,  although  the  process  was  a  little  more  round-about  than 
the  other  mode,  it  was  still  a  purchase  of  a  shawl  with  the  pro- 
ducts of  domestic  industry. 

To  make  this  plainer,  we  will  illustrate  it  by  an  analogous 
case.  A  lady  wants  a  camel's  hair  shawl.  The  lady's  husband 
has  a  store  full  of  goods  of  another  sort,  and  he  ofl'ers  these  in 
exchange  for  the  shawl.  The  owner  of  the  shawl  says  he  does 
not  want  any  coflee,  or  tea,  or  cotton,  or  tobacco,  or  rice,  and 
that  nothing  will  suit  him  but  money.  But  the  merchant  finds 
another  dealer,  who  wants  coffee,  tea,  &c.,  but  who  has  no 
shawls  for  sale,  and  is  willing  to  pay  money  for  what  he  buys. 
The  husband  therefore  sells  his  coffee,  tea,  &c.,  to  the  one,  and 
buys  the  shawl  of  the  other.  Now  is  not  the  shawl,  in  this 
case,  as  certainly  and  as  manifestly  procured  with  the  coffee, 
tea,  cotton,  tobacco,  or  rice,  as  if  the  very  shawl-merchant 
himself  had  taken  them  ? 


ESSAY    No.    CXIII. 

JULY  6,  1831. 


Political  Economy  for  the  Ladies.     Tax  upon  Carpets,  and 
Floor-cloths — operation  of. 

SOME  people  have  a  notion  that  Political  Economy  is  too 
dry  and  abstruse  a  subject  for  the  ladies.  There  are  some  of 
its  departments  which  are  undoubtedly  so,  but  there  are  other 
branches  again  which  any  one  may  comprehend;  and,  to  show 

*  The  total  value  of  cotton  goods  shipped  to  India,  from  the  United   States,  during  the 
years  1826-27- at:--29,  was  ?  ia,710. 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  371 

that  we  are  right  in  this  position,  we  have  written  the  present 
article. 

Every  house-keeper  knows  the  comfort,  in  summer  time,  of 
having  a  cool  covering  on  the  floor — such,  for  instance,  as  a 
China  straw-matting.  Such  an  article  is  not  merely  an  article 
of  luxury,  it  even  promotes  economy,  by  saving  the  labour  of 
frequent  scrubbing ;  and  every  one  can  perceive,  that,  with  a 
neat  covering  on  the  floor,  the  room  can  be  furnished  to  look 
well  with  less  expense  than  where  there  is  none.  We  leave  this 
to  the  judgment  of  any  lady;  and  if  she  decides  in  our  favour, 
we  will  ask  her  attention  to  a  few  remarks  upon  the  beauties 
of  the  American  Sj^stem. 

We  will  suppose,  that  on  the  first  of  June  she  took  up  her 
carpets  from  the  parlours,  chambers,  and  entry,  with  the  inten- 
tion of  purchasing  China  matting,  to  put  down  for  the  sum- 
mer. On  going  to  the  different  shops,  she  finds,  to  her  amaze- 
ment, that  there  is  none  to  be  had  of  the  first  quality,  (which 
we  understand  to  be  the  fact  now  in  Philadelphia.)  and  that  for 
the  inferior  qualities  they  ask  62  1-2  cents  a  yard  for  the  yard 
and  a  half  wide.  She  inquires  the  cause  of  this,  of  her  husband, 
when  he  comes  home  to  dinner,  and  he  tells  her  that  this  scar- 
city and  high  price  are  owing  to  the  Protecting  System,  as 
some  people  call  it.  She  then  very  naturally  asks  whether  there 
is  any  China  matting  manufactured  in  this  country,  which  re- 
quires that  the  manufacturer  should  oblige  house-keepers  to 
pay  as  much  for  covering  two  rooms  as  they  ought  to  pay  for 
covering  three  ?  The  husband  answers,  No.  "  Why,  then," 
asks  the  lady,  "  should  there  be  a  high  tax  upon  China  mat- 
ting?" The  husband  is  puzzled  to  answer  this,  and  he  pro- 
mises to  inquire  into  it  the  next  time  he  goes  out.  He  is  not 
long  in  getting  a  key  to  the  scheme  of  'protecting  the  ladies 
against  cheap  floor-cloths,  and,  for  their  benefit,  we  will  lay  it 
before  them. 

By  the  tariff*  of  1824,  oil  cloths  and  China  matting  were 
both  subject  to  a  duty  of  30  per  centum  on  the  first  cost.  It 
seems  that  a  few  persons  in  the  United  States  had  undertaken 
the  patriotic  enterprise  of  supplying  their  fellow-citizens  with 
oil  cloths,  at  double  the  price  they  cost  in  other  countries,  but 
had  found  out  that  they  could  not  accomplish  this  without  a 
law  to  impose  a  penalty  upon  every  person  who  should  be  so 
unpatriotic  as  to  use  an  English,  French,  or  German  oil  cloth. 
They  also  found  out,  that  if  the  penalty  upon  the  use  of  foreign 
oil  cloth  should  be  made  very  high,  people  would  be  driven  to 
the  use  of  China  matting,  and  in  order  to  prevent  this,  it  was 
cunningly  devised  that  another  penalty  should  be  imposed  upon 
any  house-keeper  who  should  dare  to  use  this  latter  article. 
The  matter  was  laid  before  Congress  in  1828,  and  the  request 
of  the  patent  floor-cloth  manufacturers,  viz., — that  twelve  mil- 


372  ESSAYS    ON    THE     PRINCIPLES 

lions  of  people  should  be  taxed  to  support  one,  two,  or  three, 
unprofitable  estabhshments — appearing,  to  that  enlightened  bo- 
dy, to  be  so  very  reasonable,  it  was  readily  acceded  to.  A  pe- 
nalty of  50  cents  per  square  yard  upon  oil  cloth,  and  of  15 
cents  per  square  yard  upon  China  matting  was  imposed. 

Now,  15  cents  per  square  yard  upon  China  matting,  is  equal 
to  22  1-2  cents  per  running  yard  ;  and,  consequently,  if  it  were 
not  for  the  tax,  the  price  would  now  be  but  40  cents  per  yard. 
Indeed  it  would  not  be  so  much,  for  it  must  be  remembered 
that  the  merchant  charges  a  profit  upon  the  duty  which  he  is 
obliged  to  pay. 

There  are  now  existing  in  this  country  what  are  called  Mite 
Societies — that  is,  societies  composed  of  ladies,  who  contribute 
very  small  sums,  or  mites,  annually,  towards  particular  objects. 
Now  we  would  recommend  a  Mite  Society  to  be  formed,  for 
the  purpose  of  raising  a  fund  to  put  an  end  to  the  monopoly  of 
the  floor-cloth  manufacturers,  and  to  enable  house-keepers  to 
buy  China  matting  at  its  fair  and  natural  price. .  If  double  the 
number  of  floors  were  covered  with  niatting  that  there  now 
are,  which  would  be  the  case  if  it  could  be  had  at  25  cents  per 
yard  less  than  its  present  price,  the  comfort  of  families  would 
be  amazingly  promoted  ;  and  when  the  smallness  of  the  sum 
that  will  be  sufficient  to  purchase  this  great  privilege  shall  be 
named,  we  are  satisfied  that  many  persons  will  be  astonished. 
Our  calculation  is  this :  The  whole  number  of  persons  in  the 
United  States,  employed  in  the  manufacture  of  floor-cloths, 
cannot  exceed  07ie  hundred.  Estimating  their  earnings  at  the 
high  price  of  300  dollars  per  annum  each,  the  amount  would 
be  30,000  dollars.  Now  if  a  fund  were  raised,  equal  to  one- 
fourth  of  a  cent  per  head  of  the  whole  population  of  the  United 
States,  estimated  at  thirteen  millions,  it  would  be  more  than 
sufficient,  by  $2,500,  to  maintain  the  whole  of  these  people, 
even  supposing  them  to  be  able  to  get  no  other  employment. 


ESSAY    No.    CXIV 

ACODST    10,    1831. 


Imports  and  Expm^ts  inseparably  connected;  one  cannot  exist 
without  the  other.     Commerce  an  exchange  of  equivalents. 

ONEof  thepoints  most  essential  to  be  clearly  understood,  in 
Political  Economy,  is,  the  absolute  inseparableness  of  imports 
and  exports;  and  if  we  look  at  the  arguments  of  that  portion 
of  the  tariff"  party  who  pretend  to  reason  upon  the  subject,  we 
shall  discover  that  a  want  of  knowledge  of  this  important  truth 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  373 

lies  at  tlie  bottom  of  their  whole  fallacious  theory.  They  seem 
to  suppose  that  a  country  can  carry  on  an  export  trade,  with- 
out at  the  same  time  carrying  on  an  import  trade,  and  hence 
they  are  constantly  at  work  to  try  to  find  out  how  they  can  in- 
crease the  export  of  domestic  products,  and  at  the  same  time 
diminish  the  import  of  foreign  products.  Like  the  disciples  of 
the  old  commercial  school,  who  maintained  that  a  country  was 
enriched,  not  in  proportion  to  the  aggregate  extent  of  its  trade, 
but  in  proportion  to  the  quantity  of  the  precious  metals  which 
were  brought  into  it,  they  seem  to  regard  as  the  very  apostles 
of  wisdom  those  who  are  seeking  after  the  philosopher's  stone 
in  the  form  of  an  excess  of  exports  over  imports.  A  little  re- 
flection upon  this  subject  will,  we  think,  satisfy  any  one,  that 
this  search  will  be  nothing  ditierent  from  a  wild-goose  chase. 
Like  an  ignis  fatuus,  it  is  ever  dancing  before  the  eyes  of  the 
bewildered  pursuer,  and  like  it,  must  forever  elude  his  grasp. 

Commerce  is  nothing  in  the  world  but  an  exchange  of  com- 
modities for  commodities  of  equal  value  at  the  place  where  the 
exchange  is  ?nade.  Nations  never  give  commodities  to  other 
nations  for  nothinsr.  Even  individuals  rarelv  do  it;  for,  al- 
though  a  Chinese  hong-merchant  may  sometimes  make  a  cum- 
shaw  or  present  to  an  American  supercargo,  yet  he  probably 
gets,  in  exchange  for  it,  its  full  value,  in  ginseng,  opium,  or 
extra  commissions.  If,  however,  nations  were  to  be  so  foolish 
as  voluntarily  to  give  their  commodities  away  for  nothing,  the 
nations  to  whom  they  were  given  would  be  gainers  to  the  full 
value  of  the  gift,  and  would  certainly  not  be  guilty  of  the  folly 
of  refusing  to  receive  them,  upon  the  ground  that  the  balance 
of  trade  was  against  them,  as  proved  from  their  importing 
more  than  they  exported.  Now  if  other  nations  will  not  give 
us  their  products  for  nothing,  we  think  it  may  very  safely  be 
assumed,  that  we  will  not  give  them  our  products  for  nothing ; 
and  it  inust  therefore  be  manifest  to  any  man,  who  does  not 
regard  the  people  of  the  United  States  as  a  nation  of  boobies, 
that,  for  every  dollar  we  export,  we  import  a  dollar's  worth  in 
return. 

From  this  it  will  be  evident,  that  imports  and  exports  go  to- 
gether hand  in  hand.  It  is  no  doubt  sometimes  the  case,  that 
in  one  particular  year,  imports  may  exceed  exports,  and  ince 
versa;  but  there  is  a  perpetual  tendency  to  equalization,  and 
upon  an  average  of  five  or  ten  years  it  can  hardly  fail  that 
the  amount  of  one  is  exactly  counterbalanced  by  the  amount 
of  the  other.  Is  it  not  therefore  self-evident,  that  whatever 
measures  have  a  tendency  to  prohibit  imports,  must  of  neces- 
sity at  the  same  time  prohibit  exports,  to  an  equal  extent? 
"We  do  not  see  how  this  can  be  doubted,  and,  according  to  our 
custom,  we  cheerfully  oflfer  the  columns  of  this  paper  to  any 
writer  who  will  undertake  to  refute  this  position. 
2  I 


374  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

Every  nation  has  it  in  its  power  to  diminish  the  actual 
amount  of  its  exports,  by  two  processes,  equally  efficacious. 
One  is  by  positively  prohibiting  exports ;  the  other  is  by  pro- 
hibiting imports.  It  matters  not,  as  to  the  final  result,  which 
one  be  resorted  to.  Prohibitory  duties  on  foreign  commodities, 
as  far  as  they  operate,  are  just  as  elTectual  in  preventing  ex- 
ports, as  an  embargo  operating  upon  the  same  value  of  goods. 
We  cannot  say  that  ten  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  foreign 
products  shall  be  excluded,  without  saying,  at  the  same  time, 
that  ten  miUions  of  dollars  worth  of  domestic  products  shall  be 
cut  off'  from  our  exports ;  cause  and  effect  are  not  more  in- 
separably united ;  and  it  is  because  the  Tariff"  party  will  not 
give  themselves  the  trouble  of  thinking  upon  this  point,  nor  of 
listening  to  the  arguments  which  so  conclusively  establish  the 
fallacy  of  their  reasoning,  that  the  Southern  people  have  so 
strong  grounds  for  dissatisfaction.  The  Southern  people  say, 
and  they  say  very  correctly  too,  that  if  duties  are  imposed 
upon  foreign  products  which  exclude  ten  millions  of  dollars 
worth  of  goods,  this  prohibition  is  attended  by  a  diminution  of 
ten  millions  of  dollars  in  the  exports  of  domestic  products,  and 
that,  as  the  article  of  cotton  is  the  one  which  would  undoubt- 
edly be  the  preferred  commodity  for  a  great  part  of  this  sum, 
the  operation  of  the  duty  is  more  oppressive  on  the  cotton- 
planters  than  on  any  other  class.  Of  this  fact,  no  one  who 
understands  the  subject  entertains  any  doubt ;  and  even  sup- 
posing that  the  Constitution  authorises  protecting  duties,  which 
we  wholly  deny,  the  inequality  of  their  operation  ought  to  be 
an  objection  to  their  adoption  under  a  government  founded  up- 
on a  supposed  conciliation  of  interests. 

If  then  these  positions  be  true — if  imports  and  exports  are 
inseparably  connected,  and  if  a  nation  can  at  its  pleasure  equal- 
ly diminish  its  exports,  by  prohibiting  the  one  or  the  other — it 
is  equally  clear  that  a  nation  may  augment  its  exports,  either 
by  reducing  the  actual  rate  of  duties  on  foreign  commodities, 
or  by  removing  the  obstructions  placed  upon  those  exports. 
This  is  what  we  have  always  contended  for  in  this  journal. 
The  restrictionists  do  not  understand  this  principle,  and  on 
that  account,  when  they  cut  off  exports  by  the  refusal  to  take 
foreign  goods,  they  fall  into  the  error  of  supposing  that  it  is  the 
fault  of  foreign  nations  that  we  do  not  sell  more  domestic  pro- 
ductions. They  delight  in  having  discovered,  as  they  suppose, 
that  foreigners  will  not  buy  of  us — when  it  is  in  fact  we,  who 
will  not  permit  them  to  buy.  We  do  really  believe,  that  there 
are  amongst  them  some  prominent  men  so  ignorant  on  this 
point,  that  if  their  system  was  carried  out  to  its  full  extent,  so 
as  to  exclude  all  foreign  imports,  and  consequently  to  cut  off 
all  domestic  exports,  they  would  maintain  that  our  commerce 
had  ceased  because  foreigners  would  not  buy  our  productions 


OP    FREE    TRADE.  375 

ESSAY    No.    C  X  V . 

SEPTEMBER    7,    1831. 

The  Culture  of  Silk.     Remarks  upon  a  letter  of  David  Porter, 
Esq.     Folly  exposed,  of  forcing  the  manufacture  of  Silk. 

David  Porter,  Esquire,  our  Minister  to  Constantinople,  in 
a  letter  written  at  Mahon,  under  date  of  June  8th,  to  John  S. 
Skinner,  Esquire,  of  Baltimore,  contains  the  following  passage 
in  reference  to  the  cultivation  of  Silk : 

"  I  shall  try  and  send  you  a  very  simple  mode  of  cultivating 
the  silk-worm,  preparing  the  silk,  and  adapted,  in  the  most  sim- 
ple form,  to  the  use  of  families.  I  shall  get  it  from  a  poor,  plain 
Mahonese  woman,  who  for  her  amusement  raises  the  worm, 
separates  the  silk  from  the  cocoon,  spins  and  manufactures, 
and  sells  it.  She  showed  me  several  pounds  of  excellent  sew- 
ing-silk, of  the  remains  of  what  she  had  last  year.  I  shall  send 
you  a  sample.  You  will  be  surprised  at  the  simplicity  of  all 
the  means  of  obtaining  silk,  and  of  the  little  trouble  attending  it. 

"  This  is  written  in  haste,  as  the  vessel  sails  immediately, 
(this  afternoon,)  but  to-morrow,  if  I  can  possibly  spare  the  time, 
I  will  give  my  attention  to  the  subject,  and  be  more  particular. 
The  cultivation  of  silk  is  not  so  troublesome  as  the  cultivation 
of  flax,  and  infinitely  more  certain  and  profitable.  The  simple 
mode,  which  I  hope  to  be  able  to  describe,  will,  I  expect,  in- 
duce our  good  housewives  to  give  some  attention  to  the  sub- 
ject, and  by  a  gradual  introduction  of  its  culture  among  us, 
save,  in  the  end,  millions  of  money  which  finds  its  way  to  this 
side  of  the  Atlantic.  For  silk  is  an  indispensable  article,  and 
is  one  of  the  first  necessity — as  much  so  as  tea  and  sugar.  No 
man  or  woman  can  put  on  a  coat,  shawl,  hat,  glove,  or  dress 
himself  in  any  way,  without  it." 

If  Commodore  Porter  can  introduce  into  this  country  the 
knowledge  of  a  mode  of  cultivating  silk,  which  shall  be  "  infi- 
nitely more  certain  and  profitable  than  the  cultivation  of  flax," 
he  will  undoubtedly  render  the  country  a  great  service.  We 
are  sorry,  however,  to  observe  by  his  letter,  that  the  Commo- 
dore has  fallen  into  the  common  error  of  supposing  that,  if  silk 
were  raised  in  the  United  States,  the  whole  of  the  value  would 
be  that  much  clear  gain  to  the  country,  and  save  the  "  millions 
of  money"  which  cross  the  Atlantic. 

The  Commodore  will  no  doubt  admit,  that  the  silk  dresses, 
coats,  shawls,  hats,  stockings,  and  gloves,  which  are  worn  by 
our  ladies  and  gentlemen,  and  which  are  imported  from  Eu- 
rope, are  paid  for  with  American  productions  of  some  sort  or 


376  ESSAYS    ON    THE     PRINCIPLES 

Other.  Itiey  are,  consequcnthj,  the  product  of  American  indus- 
try;  and  the  question  to  be  decided  is,  whether  the  people  of 
the  United  States  would  get  more  silk  nnanufactures,  by  the 
labour  of  a  hundred  persons  employed  in  agriculture,  than  by 
the  labour  of  a  hundred  persons  employed  in  raising  silk-worms 
and  preparing  silk  ?  Whichever  process  would  produce  the 
most  silk  goods,  would  be  the  most  advantageous  to  the  coun- 
try. It  is  very  clear  that  we  cannot  have  the  silk  and  the  sur- 
plus to  export  too.  We  cannot  have,  in  a  single  animal,  two 
cats  and  two  skins,  and  all  the  reasoning  which  is  intended  to 
prove  that  we  can,  is  founded  upon  a  capital  error,  which  per- 
vades all  the  writings  of  the  tariff  advocates,  from  the  North 
American  Review  down  to  the  most  humble  member  of  the 
tariff'  school. 

It  is  not  true  that  the  people  who  are  employed  in  raising 
the  agricultural  products  with  which  we  annually  pay  for  silks, 
to  the  value  of  seven  millions  of  dollars,  could  raise  these  pro- 
ducts and  seven  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  silk  besides.  Nor 
is  it  true  that  there  are  people  in  the  United  States  who  could 
raise  silk-worms  without  leaving  some  other  business  by  which 
they  already  get  their  living.  There  is,  in  this  country,  no  such 
thing  as  an  unemployed  population,  except  the  few  individuals 
who  inhabit  our  poor-houses,  and  even  many  of  them  do  some 
w^ork,  adequate  in  part  to  their  support.  If  any  one  doubts 
these  positions,  let  him  go  into  the  country  and  inquire  of  the 
first  farmer  he  meets.  He  will  learn  from  him,  that  farmers 
and  farmers'  wives  and  daughters  have  no  spare  time.  They 
get  up  at  the  dawn  of  day,  and  work  until  night,  and  have  no 
time  to  attend  to  the  raising  of  silk-worms,  without  neglecting 
something  else  more  important  and  profitable.  It  is  true  that 
there  are  some  persons  of  leisure,  who,  for  amusement,  might 
raise  silk-worms,  in  the  same  manner  that  ladies  employ  their 
leisure  time  in  making  lace,  embroidery,  or  bead-reticules — 
but  it  is  even  questionable  whether  in  such  cases  it  could  be 
done  without  giving  up  some  other  amusing  employment,  quite 
as  profitable  and  quite  as  productive  of  utility  as  the  raising  of 
silk-worms.  Still  we  do  not  mean  to  say  that  there  may  not 
be  a  benefit  in  raising  silk-worms  in  some  parts  of  our  extend- 
ed country,  provided  it  can  be  carried  on  without  the  applica- 
tion of  the  high-pressure  system.  Against  all  duties  (or forcing 
into  existence  any  branch  of  industry,  whether  agricultural, 
commercial,  or  manufacturing,  w^e  do  most  earnestly  protest. 
If  people  can  raise  silk-worms  to  advantage — if  they  can  spin 
or  throw  sewing  silk — or  if  they  can  weave  flags  to  hang  up 
in  the  Capitol  at  Washington,  without  laying  a  tax  upon  the 
whole  nation,  let  them  do  it.  The  friends  of  the  freedom  of 
trade  are  also  the  friends  of  the  freedom  of  industry,  and  they 
are  the  last  people  who  would  interfere  to  prevent  any  indivi- 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  377 

dual  from  directing  his  capital  and  labour  to  whatever  pursuit 
he  may  consider  best  adapted  to  promote  his  own  prosperity 
or  happiness. 

But  in  the  name  of  common  sense  do  not,  for  the  purpose 
of  enabling  Mr.  D'Homergue  to  reel  ten  thousand  dollars'  worth 
of  cocoons,  enact  a  law  to  say  that  all  the  sewing-silk  and  all 
the  silk  manufactures  imported  into  the  country  shall  be  subject 
to  a  protecting  duty,  in  addition  to  the  present  one,  which  is 
15  per  cent,  upon  raw  silk,  20  per  cent,  upon  manufactures, 
and  30  per  cent,  if  they  come  from  beyond  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope.  No  protecting  duty  could  place  the  manufacture  of 
silk  in  this  country  in  a  state  to  compete  with  the  silks  of  Chi- 
na, France,  or  England,  short  of  fifty  per  centum ;  and  a  duty 
to  that  extent  would  be  a  tax  of  three  and  a  half  millions  of 
dollars  upon  an  article  which  the  country  could  not  supply  for 
an  age.  A  tax  on  silk,  like  a  tax  on  china,  would  be  one  of 
the  most  wanton  attempts  to  tax  the  many  for  the  benefit  of  the 
few ;  for  if  silk  be,  as  Commodore  Porter  says,  as  much  an 
article  "  of  the  first  necessity"  as  tea  and  sugar,  it  would  be 
taxing  thirteen  millions  of  people,  to  enable  a  mere  handful  of 
individuals  to  carry  on  a  losing  concern,  having  no  more  claim 
upon  public  favour  for  protection,  than  the  business  of  hunting 
racoons  in  Georgia. 


ESSAY    No.    CXVI. 

OCTOBER    12,    1831. 

British  Corn  Latcs.     Impolicy  of,  sJieivn.     Similarity  between 
laics  for  the  protection  of  Corn,  and  of  Iron. 

EVERY  body  who  has  examined  the  subject  knows,  that 
the  Corn  Laws  of  England  benefit  nobody  but  the  owners  of 
the  land,  and  the  tenants  who  hold  under  long  leases  executed 
before  those  laws  were  passed.  By  excluding  foreign  grain 
by  a  high  duty,  the  landlords,  who  hold  a  monopoly  of  the  land, 
are  enabled  to  get  a  higher  rent  for  it  than  they  would  otherwise 
obtain,  and  the  tenants  under  old  leases,  get  a  higher  price  for 
their  grain.  It  is  easy  therefore  to  see,  that  all  the  rest  of  the 
community  are  losers,  inasmuch  as  they  are  obliged  to  pay  a 
higher  price  for  their  bread.  So  long  as  Parliament  was  con- 
trolled by  the  land-holders,  there  was  no  prospect  of  a  repeal 
of  the  Corn  Laws :  for,  like  our  manufacturers,  they  have  al- 
ways made  a  great  outcry  about  destroying  their  vested  in- 
terests— interests  which  became  vested  by  a  positive  wrong 
against  the  rest  of  the  community.  Under  the  reform  about  to 
2  1* 


378  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

take  place,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  interests  of  the  bread  eat- 
ers will  be  consulted  ;  and  we  therefore  look  forward  to  the  day 
when  the  Corn  Laws  will  be  repealed,  Or  greatly  modified.  In 
such  event  would  agriculture  be  destroyed  in  Great  Britain  ? 
Clearly  not.  Many  individuals  would  indeed  be  losers,  but 
the  losses,  as  far  as  they  should  fall  upon  landlords,  would  be 
only  leaving  in  the  pockets  of  the  consumers,  money  otherwise 
unjustly  extorted  from  them.  Part  of  these  losses  too  would 
be  compensated  by  the  diminution  of  the  poor  rates :  for  if 
bread  was  cheaper,  all  other  food  would  also  be  cheaper,  and 
employment  would  be  more  abundant,  and  there  would,  conse- 
quently, be  fewer  paupers  for  the  landlords  to  maintain.  One 
class  of  persons,  and  one  only  would  suffer,  for  whom  com- 
miseration ought  to  be  excited,  that  is  tenants  who  had  rented 
lands  upon  long  leases  since  the  existence  of  the  monopoly-price 
of  grain ;  but  no  one  would  say  that  twenty  millions  of  people 
should  continue  to  buy  dear  bread,  merely  that  a  few  thou- 
sands might  be  saved  from  loss.  Agriculture  would,  however, 
sustain,  comparatively,  very  little  diminution.  The  lands  of 
England  now  under  tillage  are  sufficiently  fertile  to  warrant 
their  cultivation,  even  were  there  a  very  moderate  duty  on 
foreign  grain.  We  have  now  before  us  a  statement  of  the  im- 
ports and  exports  of  Wheat  and  Flour  into  and  from  Great 
Britain  for  twenty-one  years  prior  to  1813,  before  the  present 
system  of  Corn  Laws  was  established,  by  which  it  appears  that, 
during  that  term,  only  one-twenty-sixth  part  of  the  wheat  and 
flour  consumed  in  the  country  was  foreign,  although  the  im- 
port, in  some  years,  was  upwards  of  a  million  of  quarters,  of 
eight  bushels.  Supposing  the  best  lands  to  be  as  fertile  now  as 
they  were  then,  and,  from  the  modern  improvements  in  agri- 
culture they  are  probably  more  so,  it  is  not  likely  that  a  re- 
peal of  the  Corn  Laws  would  do  more  than  to  throw  out  of 
tillage  those  barren  and  unproductive  soils  which  have  only 
been  rendered  worthy  of  cultivation  by  the  monopoly-price  of 
grain.  This  would  probably  be  the  whole  extent  of  the  mis- 
chief; and  yet  we  dare  say  that  the  body  of  the  landlords  are 
endeavouring  to  alarm  the  people,  by  telling  them  that,  if  the 
Corn  Laws  were  to  be  repealed,  nobody  could  raise  a  bushel 
of  wheat  without  loss,  and  that  the  Americans  and  other  fo- 
reigners, having  them  in  their  power,  would  raise  upon  them 
the  price  of  grain,  to  the  point  of  starvation. 

Precisely  as  stands  the  question  of  the  Corn  Laws  in  Eng- 
land, stands  the  Iron  question  in  this  country.  From  the  ear- 
liest settlement  of  the  colonies,  iron  has  been  manufactured 
from  the  ore,  and  some  of  the  greatest  fortunes  have  been  made 
by  the  owners  of  iron  works,  whilst  the  duty  was  five  to  ten  per 
centum  ad  valorem.  That  the  production  of  iron  requires  no 
artificial  stimulus,  is  evident  from  the  fact,  that  under  the  Co- 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  379 

lonial  Governments  not  only  was  no  protection  afforded  to  it, 
but  endeavours  were  even  made,  by  the  mother  country,  to 
keep  it  down.  A  reduction  of  the  duty  would  restore  the  old 
state  of  things.  The  fertile  mines  would  be  worked,  as  they 
always  have  been,  whilst  those  which  are  barren,  and  which 
cannot  be  made  to  yield  a  ton  of  iron  at  a  less  cost  than  the 
price  of  two  tons  of  foreign  iron,  will  be  abandoned,  as  they 
ought  to  be.  What  proportion  these  may  bear  to  the  whole 
number  cannot  easily  be  ascertained.  Much  will  depend  upon 
their  proximity  to  the  sea  ports.  An  iron  establishment  near 
Philadelphia,  would  feel  a  reduction  more  than  one  which  is  si- 
tuated in  the  interior  of  the  state.  The  same  duty  does  not 
equally  protect  all  against  foreign  competition  :  for  if  the  price  of 
transportation  from  Philadelphia  to  Centre  County,  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, for  example,  be  $  12  per  ton,  an  iron-master  in  that  coun- 
ty could  stand  his  ground  with  ten  dollars  less  duty  than  one  liv- 
ing so  near  Philadelphia  as  to  be  reached  by  the  foreign  com- 
petition at  an  expense  of  two  dollars  per  ton.  There  are,  in 
the  United  States,  a  great  number  of  iron- works  in  the  interior, 
so  situated  that  foreign  iron,  if  it  were  admitted  duty  free, 
could  not  come  into  competition  with  them,  owing  to  the  na- 
tural protection  derived  from  the  expenses  of  transportation, 
which  they  enjoy. 


ESSAY    No.    CXVII. 

OCTOBER  12,  1831. 


Importance  of  Iron  as  a  metal.  Impolicy  of  an  artificial  aug- 
mentation of  its  price.  Pennsylvania  injured,  instead  of  be- 
ing benefited  by  the  duty  on  Iron. 

A  WRITER  in  the  "  Franklin  Repository,"  of  this  state,  in 
an  article,  re-published  in  Poulson's  Advertiser  of  22d  Septem- 
ber, in  adv^erting  to  the  efforts  making  to  strike  a  blow  against 
the  high  duty  on  iron,  very  justly  and  feelingly  remarks,  that 
if  that  duty  should  be  reduced,  the  tariff  will  go  by  the  board  : 
for  that,  independent  of  the  protection  of  iron,  neither  Penn- 
sylvania, New  Jersey,  nor  Maryland,  has  any  interest  in  the 
American  System.  This  opinion  is  not  peculiar  to  the  paper 
just  cited.  It  is,  perhaps,  universal  at  the  North,  and  hence 
the  friends  of  Free  Trade  have  not  neglected  any  means  of 
exposing  the  injustice  and  mischievous  effects  of  that  duty  up- 
on the  prosperity  of  agriculture,  navigation,  manufactures,  and 
the  mechanic  arts. 

Iron  is  decidedly  the  most  useful  product  which  exists,  ex- 


380  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

cept  food.  To  its  powerful  agency  are  we  indebted  for  every 
improvement  in  agriculture,  since  the  first  man  scratched  the 
ground  with  a  stick,  and  harvested  his  grain  by  pulling  it  up 
by  the  roots  or  breaking  it  off  with  his  hands ;  for  every  im- 
provement in  navigation,  since  the  first  canoe  was  dug  out  with 
a  sharp  stone,  or  burned  out  with  fire  ;  for  every  improve- 
ment in  manufactures  and  the  mechanic  arts,  since  the  needle 
was  substituted  for  the  thorn,  or  the  knife  for  the  sharp  flint. 
Without  it,  the  human  family  would  positively  merge  at  once 
into  a  state  of  semi-barbarism,  or  perish  for  the  want  of  food 
and  raiment.  Not  a  single  thing,  adapted  to  the  wants  of  man 
in  his  present  civilized  state,  could  be  obtained.  There  would 
be  an  end  to  ploughs  and  harrows,  to  ships  and  steamboats,  to 
looms  and  spindles,  to  the  implements  and  utensils  of  every 
trade.  Now  if  this  be  true,  is  it  not  evident,  that  just  in  pro- 
portion to  the  abundance  of  iron,  must  the  great  interests  of 
society,  in  all  its  departments  of  industry,  be  promoted  and 
extended  ?  We  do  not  see  how  any  sensible  mind  can  hesitate 
to  reply  in  the  affirmative ;  and,  up  to  this  stage  of  the  argu- 
ment, we  have  no  doubt  that  the  sentiment  of  the  American 
people  would  be  unanimous.  The  question,  then,  which  first 
presents  itself,  is,  by  what  means  or  process  can  iron  be  placed 
most  within  the  reach  of  those  who  have  occasion  to  use  it  ? 
The  answer  is  plain  enough — by  rendering  it  cheap  to  the  con- 
sumers. And  how  is  iron  to  be  rendered  cheap  to  the  consum- 
ers ?  By  letting  them  buy  it  in  any  part  of  the  world  where 
they  can  get  the  most  of  it  in  return  for  what  they  have  to  dis- 
pose of. 

Every  body  knows,  that  the  cost  of  iron  depends  upon  the 
fertility  of  the  mines  where  it  is  produced,  and  upon  the  ex- 
penses of  mining  it.  The  reason  why  iron  is  now,  in  England, 
as  low  as  $25  a  ton,  notwithstanding  the  greater  depth  in  the 
earth  from  which  the  ore  must  be  raised,  is,  that  every  year 
new  machinery  has  been  invented,  with  power  sufficient  to 
counteract  more  than  all  the  increased  expenses.  To  this  ma- 
chinery, made  from  the  very  iron  which  it  is  intended  to  raise, 
is  due  a  great  part  of  this  reduction  in  the  price.  Now  sup- 
pose a  law  were  passed,  in  England,  to  prevent  the  use  of 
machinery  at  the  mines,  by  which  the  price  of  iron  should  be 
raised  $37  per  ton,  would  not  every  considerate  man  in  the 
world  cry  out  against  the  measure,  not  merely  as  impolitic, 
but  as  anti-Christian  ?  Would  it  not  be  regarded  as  a  conspi- 
racy against  the  comforts  of  the  human  family,  and  against 
the  progress  of  science  and  the  arts  ?  We  cannot  imagine 
any  man  so  obtuse  in  intellect,  as  not  to  conclude  with  us  in 
opinion  on  this  point. 

And  we  will  now  respectfully  ask  of  the  advocates  of  the 
American  System,  where  is  the  difference  between  a  law  pro- 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  381 

hibiting  the  use  of  labour-saving  machines,  and  any  other  law 
which  has  the  effect  of  raising  the  price  of  iron  thirty-seven 
dollars  a  ton  I  We  cannot  possibly  conceive  of  any — and,  as 
our  Tariff  law  has  this  effect,  we  look  upon  it  with  precisely 
ihe  same  views  as  we  should  regard  its  prototype.  Free  Trade 
is  nothing  but  a  great  labour-saving  machine,  and  to  prevent 
its  operations  with  the  view  of  promoting  the  interests  of  the 
many,  is  as  stupid  and  absurd  as  it  would  be  to  destroy  half  a 
crop  of  grain,  with  the  view  of  promoting  the  interests  of  the 
consumers  of  bread — whilst,  to  prevent  its  operation,  with  the 
view  of  promoting  the  interests  of  the  few,  is  positively  wick- 
ed. As  far  as  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  have  a  hand  in  pre- 
venting iron  from  being  cheap,  we  are  free  to  admit  that  the 
great  body  of  them  are  not  chargeable  with  the  imputation  of 
wickedness.  They  think  they  are  in  pursuit  of  their  interest, 
but  they  have  got  upon  the  wrong  scent.  Like  a  pack  of 
hounds,  they  have  been  drawn  off  from  the  track  of  the  hare, 
and  are  now  in  full  chase  after  a  drag,  which  has  so  vitiated 
the  atmosphere  with  its  odour  that  they  can  no  longer  adapt 
their  olfactories  to  the  true  scent.  If  this  were  not  the  case, 
the  iron  duty  could  not  stand  six  months.  So  far  from  its  be- 
ing a  benefit  to  the  state  of  Pennsylvania,  we  do  not  believe 
that  it  is  a  real  benefit  to  a  single  county  in  the  state,  and  we 
would  pledge  ourselves  to  demonstrate  it  to  any  individual 
whose  nose  is  free  from  the  contamination  of  the  drag. 


ESSAY    No.    CXVIII. 

NOVEMBER   2,    1831. 

The  tab ac  de  millejieurs.  Extent  of  the  tax  imposed  on  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  for  the  support  of  the  Cotton  and 
Woollen,  Iron  and  Sugar  manufacturers. 

A  STORY  is  told  of  an  old  Frenchman  in  Paris,  who  from 
affluent  circumstances  had  been  reduced  to  poverty,  and  who 
obtained  his  living  in  the  following  manner.  He  took  a  daily 
position  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  principal  tobacconist, 
whose  store  was  frequented  by  thousands  of  snuff-takers,  each 
of  whom  offered  his  replenished  and  variously  scented  box  to 
the  respectable  mendicant,  that  he  might  take  a  pinch.  The 
snuff  thus  collected  was  all  put  together,  and  was  afterwards 
sold,  under  the  title  of /e  tabac  de  millejieurs,  (snuff  of  a  thousand 
flowers,)  in  sufficient  quantity  to  maintain  the  old  gentleman. 

It  is  precisely  in  this  way  that  the  cotton  and  woollen  manu- 
facturers, the  iron  masters,  sugar  planters,  and  all  the  rest  of 


382  ESSAYS    ON    THE     PRINCIPLES 

those  who  live  upon  pubUc  contributions,  get  their  hving;  with 
this  difference,  however,  that  in  the  case  of  the  Frenchman,  the 
pinch  of  snuff  was  given  vokmtarily — whilst,  in  the  case  of  the 
others,  it  is  extorted  by  the  power  of  law.  No  doubt  every 
polite  Frenchman,  as  he  offered  his  box,  said  to  himself,  "  a 
pinch  of  snuff  is  not  much,"  and,  in  like  manner,  every  good 
tariff  man  says  to  himself,  "  it  is  not  much  for  me,  every  time 
I  want  a  piece  of  muslin,  or  a  suit  of  clothes,  or  a  hundred 
weight  of  iron,  or  a  barrel  of  sugar,  to  give  half  of  it  to  the 
custom-house,"  for  the  benefit  of  my  neighbours  A,  B,  C,  and 
D.  Notwithstanding,  however,  they  think  it  not  to  be  much, 
yet  we  can  prove  it  to  be  a  good  deal,  and  we  will  demon- 
strate it  in  reference  to  a  few  of  the  most  prominent  articles  of 
manufacture. 

The  advocates  of  the  tariff  say,  that  200,000  bales  of  cot- 
ton are  manufactured  in  this  country,  which,  taking  the  average 
weight  at  300  lbs.,  would  give  sixty  millions  of  pounds.  This 
cotton  is  made  into  fabrics  varying  from  three  to  five  yards 
per  pound,  and  taking  the  average — that  is  four  yards — 
would,  consequently,  make  240  millions  of  yards.  Now  sup- 
posing the  operation  of  the  tariff  to  occasion  a  rise  oi  one  cent 
only  per  yard  upon  all  that  is  made  in  the  country,  (and  if  it 
did  not  do  this,  why  should  the  manufacturers  hold  on  so  tena- 
ciously to  the  present  dut}'  of  8  3-4  cents  per  square  yard  ?) 
it  would  amount  to  a  tax  o(  two  millions  foiir  hundred  thousand 
dollars  upon  the  good  people  of  the  United  States.  Should 
the  rise  be  two  cents,  it  would  amount  to  a  tax  of  $4,800,000, 
and  if  it  were  three  cents,  it  would  amount  to  $7,200,000,  be- 
sides the  duty  paid  upon  about  seven  millions  of  dollars  worth 
imported — equal  to  about  $1,800,000  more — making  in  the 
whole  the  moderate  sum  taken  from  the  people,  a  pinch  at  a 
time,  of  NINE  MILLIONS  of  dollars. 

Of  the  actual  extent  of  the  woollen  manufacture  in  the  Unit- 
ed States,  there  have  never  yet  appeared  any  statistical  state- 
ments. One  thing  however,  is  known,  that  upon  woollen 
cloths  and  cassimeres,  flannels  and  baizes,  the  duty  is  from 
45  to  225  per  centum,  and  as  importations  have  been  made, 
and  are  still  making,  upon  which,  within  our  knowledge,  du- 
ties have  been  paid  of  eighty  per  centum,  it  will  be  very  evi- 
dent that  the  domestic  article  must  command  in  the  market  at 
least  fifty  per  centum  more  than  it  would  do  if  there  was  no 
duty.  In  other  words,  there  is  no  cloth,  cassimere,  flannel, 
or  baize,  now  worn  in  the  United  States,  foreign  or  domestic, 
for  which  we  must  not  pay  three  dollars  for  two  dollars'  worth. 

Every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  the  United  States,  wears 
some  of  the  manufactures  of  wool  we  have  mentioned,  and 
if  the  high  duty  have  the  effect  of  increasing  the  cost  of  cloth- 
ing of  each  individual  in  a  year,  to  the  extent  of  one  dollar  only 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  383 

upon  an  average,  it  snows  a  tax  of  thirteen  millions  of  dollars. 
That  this  is  not  overrated,  will  appear  to  any  one  who  is  told 
that  upon  one  single  yard  of  broadcloth,  even  of  the  coarsest 
quality  worn  by  working-men,  the  duty  is  sixty-two  and  a 
half  cents,  and  that  the  duty  upon  a  single  yard  of  flannel  or 
baize,  of  the  coarsest  quality,  a  yard  wide,  is  twenty-two  and  a 
half  cents.  No  man  or  boy  puts  a  suit  on  his  back  that  does  not 
pay  from  one  dollar  to  fifteen  dollars  tax.  No  woman  or  girl 
can  be  clothed  with  less  than  two  or  three  yards  of  flannel  in  a 
year,  and  the  smallest  infant  must  have  some.  But  even  sup- 
posing this  calculation  to  be  overrated,  which  we  do  not  admit, 
the  warmest  admirer  of  the  tariff  must  acknowledge  that  the 
woollen  imitators  of  the  Frenchman  take  a  pretty  large  pinch 
out  of  the  public  snuff-box,  and  that  the  tax  cannot  be  less  than 
fifty  cents  per  head,  or  six  millions  and  a  half  of  dollars. 

As  regards  the  consumption  of  iron  in  the  United  States, 
we  have  no  certain  data  to  reason  upon.  The  testimony 
given  before  the  Committee  on  Manufactures  in  1828,  repre- 
sented the  quantity  to  be  60,000  tons,  of  which  about  one- 
half  was  imported,  and  the  other  half  made  at  home.  The 
iron-masters,  however,  in  a  representation  made  to  Congress 
last  winter,  insisted  upon  it  that  100,000  tons  of  iron  were  pro- 
duced in  the  United  States,  and  we  have  no  objection,  in  this 
argument,  to  take  their  own  words  for  it.  Now,  as  the  impor- 
tation exceeds  30,000  tons,  (having  been  35,000  on  the  average 
of  the  three  years  ending  with  1829,)  we  have,  then,  135,000 
tons  as  the  total  quantity  of  iron  consumed.  If  then  we  sup- 
pose that  the  protecting  duty  on  iron  has  the  effect  of  keeping 
up  the  price  on  the  whole  quantity,  only  ten  dollars  a  ton,  it 
amounts  to  a  tax  of  one  million  three  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars ;  if  of  twenty  dollars,  to  a  tax  of  two  millions 
seven  hundred  thousand  dollars ;  and  if  of  thirty  dollars,  to  a 
tax  of  upwards  of  four  millions  of  dollars.  That  the  reader 
may  judge  how  far  one  or  the  other  of  these  taxes  is  imposed, 
we  lay  before  him  the  actual  rates  of  duties,  which  the  iron 
masters  say  are  so  necessary  to  their  support  that  they  cannot 
consent  to  a  reduction  of  them. 

Anchors, 

Anvils, 

Band  iron,     -         -         -         -         - 

Bars  or  bolts,  hammered, 

Bars  or  bolts,  rolled,       -         -         . 

Chain  cables,  .         .         -         - 

Casement  rods,      -         .         -         - 

Cast  vessels — not  otherwise  specified. 

Castings — all  other  ditto, 

Hoop  iron,  .... 

Mill  cranks  of  wrought  iron,  - 


$44  80 

per  ton. 

44  80 

ti 

78  40 

<( 

22  40 

< 

37  00 

<( 

67  20 

a 

78  40 

a 

33  60 

(( 

22  40 

(( 

78  40 

« 

89  60 

(• 

112 

00 

12 

50 

78 

40 

12 

50 

78 

40 

78 

40 

78 

40 

89 

60 

30 

00 

22 

40 

384  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

Nails,  viz.,  battins,  brads,  sprigs,  and 
tacks  exceeding  16  oz.,  clout,  hob, 
horse,  rose,  scupper,  cut,  or 
wrought,  of  all  sizes. 

Pigs,  -         -         -         - 

Round  iron,  of  three-eighteenths  to 
eight-sixteenths  of  an  inch  in  dia- 
meter, -         -  - 

Scrap  iron,       ... 

Scroll  iron,       -         -  - 

Sheet  iron,       -         -  . 

Slit,  or  rolled  for  band  iron. 

Spikes,     -         -         -  .  - 

Square  iron,     - 

Weights,  cast,  -  - 

We  shall  now  look  to  the  article  of  sugar,  and  see  how  large 
a  pinch  the  sugar  planters  take. 

The  consumption  of  sugar  in  the  United  States,  prior  to 
the  present  year,  has  been  estimated  at  130,000  hogsheads,  of 
1,000  pounds,  of  which  80,000  were  made  at  home,  and 
50,000  imported.  The  duty  on  brown  sugar  is  three  cents  a 
pound,  and  on  white,  four  cents.  If  the  duty  has  the  effect  of 
raising  the  price  on  the  whole  quantity  only  one  cent  a  pound, 
it  amounts  to  a  tax  of  $1,300,000;  if  it  raises  it  two  cents,  it 
amounts  to  a  tax  of  $2,600,000;  and  if  it  raises  it  three 
cents,  it  amounts  to  a  tax  of  $3,900,000  ;  and  if  we  add  the  ad- 
ditional duty  on  the  white,  it  may  be  assumed,  in  round  num- 
bers, at  four  7nUlions  of  dollars. 

In  these  statements  there  is  no  theory.  They  are  made  in 
such  a  way  that  any  man  who  is  capable  of  thinking,  can 
see  at  once  whether  they  are  right  or  wrong.  We  invite  criti- 
cism upon  them.  If  they  are  not  correct,  they  can  be  dis- 
proved. If  they  cannot  be  disproved,  they  establish,  beyond 
the  reach  of  contradiction — 

That  the  people  of  the  United  States  pay,  for  the  support  cf 
the  cotton  manufacturers,  from  $2,400,000  to  9,000,000  per 
annum. 

For  the  support  of  the  woollen  manufacturers,  $6,500,000 
to  $13,000,000. 

For  the  support  of  the  iron-masters,  from  $1,350,000  to 
$4,000,000. 

For  the  support  of  the  sugar  planters,  from  $1,300,000  to 
$4,000,000. 

If  we  take  the  aggregate  of  the  highest  rates  here  given, 
we  shall  have,  upon  four  articles  alone,  the  enormous  tax  of 
thirty  miUions  of  dollars.  If  we  take  the  lowest  rates,  we 
shall  have  eleven  millions  -five  hundred  and  ffty  thousand 
dollars;  and  if  we  take  the  medium  between  both,  which  is 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  385 

fair  in  such  reasoning,  and  most  unquestionably  cannot  be 
above  the  truth,  we  shall  have  near  •'$20,755,000.  Of  the 
weight  of  such  a  burden  any  one  may  have  a  proper  concep- 
tion, if  he  only  reflects  that  this  sum  would  pay  the  interest  of 
a  public  debt  of  three  hundred  and  forty-six  millions  of  dol- 
lars, at  five  per  cent.  Is  it  not,  therefore,  wonderful  beyond 
imagination,  that  a  whole  nation,  which  is  making  such  a 
racket  about  the  extinguishment  of  a  paltry  public  debt  of 
thirty  millions  of  dollars,  as  if  the  interest  upon  it  was  going 
to  ruin  them,  should  calmly  and  contentedly,  not  merely  sub- 
mit, but  absolutely  court,  a  burden  of  eleven  times  greater 
amount  ?  Verily,  it  may  be  said  of  our  wise  and  discerning 
people,  that  they  strain  at  a  gnat  and  swallow  a  camel.  It  is 
time  for  them  to  shut  up  the  public  snuff"-box.  If  the  French- 
man in  Paris  had  been  as  unconscionable  as  our  monopolists — 
if  every  time  he  had  taken  a  pinch  of  snuff  he  had  used  with 
his  thumb  two  fingers  instead  of  one,  the  contributors  to  his 
support  would  probably  have  cut  off  his  supply.  Such  a  fate 
undoubtedly  awaits  our  gentlemen,  for  it  is  altogether  impos- 
sible to  conceive  how  a  whole  people  can  be  much  longer 
cajoled  by  a  handful  of  men,  particularly  when  they  reflect 
that  the  tax  they  pay  for  the  support  of  the  four  manufac- 
tures we  have  mentioned,  besides  the  full  value  of  the  articles 
purchased,  is  equal  to  a  bounty  of  one  hundred  dollars  a  head 
upon  every  man,  woman,  and  child,  concerned  in  the  whole  of 
them,  even  if  we  fix  their  aggregate  numbers  at  the  incredible 
estimate  of  207,550  souls. 


ESSAY    No.    CXIX. 

DECEMBER  7,  1831. 

The  employment  of  a  great  number  of  labourers  not  always  a 
proof  of  -prosperity.  This  proved,  in  reference  to  the  manu- 
factories of  Great  Falls  Village.  Amount  of  tax  imposed  on 
the  public  for  their  support. 

IF  a  traveller  were  passing  along  a  road,  and  should  see  a 
thousand  men  busy  at  work  in  digging  a  canal,  and  were  to 
learn  that  they  received  a  dollar  a  day  for  their  labour,  it  would 
strike  him  at  once  that  this  was  a  good  thing  for  the  labourers  ; 
but  it  would  not  so  readily  appear  to  him  that  it  was  a  good 
thing  for  the  public,  for  that  might  depend  upon  circumstances. 
For  instance,  if  the  canal  were  made  in  a  direction  where  a 
sparse  population  resided,  who  had  little  agricultural  produce 
2K 


386  ESSAYS    ON    THE     PRINCIPLES 

to  transport  to  market,  and  who  of  course  could  afford  to  pay 
for  very  few  foreign  products,  it  might  be  possible  that  the 
public  would  not  gain  as  much  by  the  canal  as  it  would  lose 
by  the  absorbing  of  the  capital  of  beef  and  pork,  flour  and  po- 
tatoes, clothing  and  groceries,  whiskey  and  materials  consum- 
ed by  the  labourers,  whilst  making  the  canal,  and  which  was  not 
re-produced  by  their  labour,  as  it  would  have  been  had  the  men 
been  employed  in  ploughing  instead  of  digging  canals.  Thus 
it  may  be  seen  that  the  mere  employment  of  a  great  number 
of  persons  is  no  certain  evidence  of  public  prosperity ;  and  one 
of  the  advantages  of  an  acquaintance  with  the  principles  of 
Political  Economy  consists  in  its  enabling  one  to  analyze  mere 
facts,  so  as  to  discover  whether  they  harmonize  with  a  sound 
or  a  false  theory ;  for,  without  a  theory  of  some  kind,  no  facts 
can  be  employed  in  argument. 

In  reference  to  this  question  of  employment,  there  is  a  wide 
difference  between  the  views  of  the  political  arithmeticians  and 
those  of  the  political  economists.  For  the  former,  it  is  sufficient 
evidence  of  prosperity  if  people  are  employed :  the  latter  re- 
quire, to  satisfythcm,  that  this  employment  should  be  judiciously 
directed.  They  would,  for  example,  think  it  no  evidence  of 
public  prosperity,  if  all  the  inhabitants  of  a  village  were  em- 
ployed at  good  wages  in  turning  grindstones,  when  there  was 
nothing  to  be  sharpened  upon  them.  Nor  can  they  behold  any 
more  certain  signs  of  prosperity,  if  they  see  all  the  inhabitants 
of  a  village  turning  cotton-spindles,  and  superintending  looms 
worked  by  water-power,  if  the  cloth  they  produce  is  no  great- 
er in  quantity  than  the  consumers  of  cloth  could  have  procured, 
for  a  sum  as  much  less  than  that  actually  paid  by  them  to  the 
village  factory,  as  would  equal  the  whole  amount  of  the  wages 
paid  to  all  the  labourers  of  the  village.  Between  this  and  the 
grindstone  svstem  they  would  be  able  to  discover  no  difference, 
in  principle  or  effect ;  and  it  is,  therefore,  not  to  be  wondered 
at,  that  they  cannot  acknowledge  all  to  be  gold  that  glistens. 

To  illustrate  what  we  mean,  so  as  to  make  it  plain  to  the 
most  uneducated  mind,  we  will  state  a  particular  case.  In 
the  New  York  American  Advocate  there  was  lately  published 
a  letter  from  Great-Falls  Village,  N.  H.,  giving  an  account  of 
a  factory  established  there,  of  which  the  following  is  a  copy : 

"  Great-Falls  Village,  ) 

''Town  of  Somersworth,  {JV.  H.)  October  21,  1831.  j 

"  Dear  Sir — This  village,  seven  years  since,  was  an  entire 
swamp  and  wilderness.  It  then  contained  a  solitary  farm- 
house and  a  small  saw-mill.  It  now  contains  five  large  factory- 
mills,  two  large  hotels,  ten  blocks  (3  stories  high)  of  brick,  and 
about  one  hundred  frame  dwelling  houses,  three  churches,  and 
eight  or  ten  stores,  and  about  two  thousand  inhabitants.     There 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  387 

are  four  cotton  and  one  woollen  mill.  The  cotton  mills  con- 
tain, it  is  said,  more  spindles  than  are  run  by  any  other  esta- 
blishment in  the  United  Sta.tcs,  viz.,  thirty-one  thousand  !  with 
preparations  sufficient  to  supply  nine-hundred  looms,  which  pro- 
duce six  millions  of  yards  of  cotton  cloth  per  annum.  These 
mills  consume,  annually,  above  3,000  bales  of  cotton,  weighing 
1,250,000  pounds.  The  largest  mill  is  400  feet  long,  and  6 
stories  high,  and  contains  22,000  spindles  and  650  looms.  The 
cotton  mills  alone  give  employment  to  90  men,  over  100  boys, 
and  600  females.  They  use  from  7  to  8000  gallons  of  oil,  200 
tons  of  anthracite  coal,  500  barrels  of  flour  for  sizeing,and  300 
sides  of  leather. 

"  The  mills,  which  are  of  brick,  handsomely  ornamented 
with  hammered  granite  sills  and  window-caps,  are  arranged 
along  a  fine  canal  thirty  feet  wide,  and  from  six  to  seven  feet 
deep,  extending  from  the  dam  at  the  north  of  the  village  to  the 
southern  extremity  of  it.  Along  this  canal  is  the  great  high- 
way from  the  different  mills,  where  a  foot-path  of  planks  pro- 
tect the  feet  of  the  operatives  in  wet  weather ;  and  rows  of 
trees,  on  either  bank,  bid  fair  soon  to  afford  a  sufficient  shade 
for  the  heat  of  summer." 

Now  we  are  willing  to  admit,  that  this  array  of  statistics 
and  big  figures  is  prodigiously  appalling,  and  we  are  not  asto- 
nished that  so  many  honest  and  simple-minded  people  are  be- 
wildered when  they  see  such  a  volume  of  arithmetic  staring 
them  in  the  face.  Such  statements,  however,  have  no  terrors 
for  the  mind  which  has  been  habituated  to  analyze,  and  to  sepa- 
rate the  wheat  from  the  chaff',  the  valuable  materials  from  the 
rubbish.  The  fallacy  of  appearances  can  soon  be  stripped  from 
the  substantial  reality,  and  the  truth  be  made  to  appear. 

From  the  foregoing  statement  we  learn — 

First.  That  1,250,000  pounds  of  cotton  can  be  converted 
into  6,000,000  of  yards  of  cloth,  which  is  very  nearly  5  yards 
to  the  pound  of  cotton. 

Secondly.  That  the  manufacture  of  6,000,000  yards  of  cloth 
require,  in  a  year,  for  the  spinning  and  weaving,  790  men,  boys, 
and  females — which  is  equal,  upon  an  average,  to  7,594  yards 
to  each  operative. 

It  is  not  stated  how  much  wages  are  paid  to  these  operatives, 
nor  is  it  material  for  our  present  purpose.  Our  design  is  merely 
to  show  that  the  case  is  one  which  belongs  to  the  grindstone 
system,  and  we  do  it  thus: 

The  duty  on  cotton  cloths  of  the  quality  above  referred  to, 
is  8  3-4  cents  per  square  yard,  or  about  6  1-2  cents  per  running 
yard  of  three  quarters' width.  The  tariff' party  pretend  that 
their  duties  are  not  prohibitory.  If  that  were  the  case,  they 
would  be  able  to  sell  their  cotton  cloth  at  6  1-2  cents  per  var'd 
higher  than  the  foreign  cloth  costs  abroad.     But  we  do  not 


385  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

agree  with  them.  The  duty  on  all  low-priced  cottons  is  prohi- 
bitory ;  and  we  are  therefore  willing  to  acknowledge,  that  the 
protection  they  enjoy  is  not  more  than  half  the  amount  of  the 
duty,  or  say,  three  cents  per  yard.  Now  let  us  see  how  this 
operates. 

A  protection  of  3  cents  per  yard  enables  the  manufacturer 
to  sell  his  cloth  for  3  cents  a  yard  more  than  he  could  get  for 
it  without  the  protection.  This  sum  is  a  tax  upon  the  con- 
sumer, because  he  has  to  pay  that  much  more  than  he  would 
otherwise  have  to  pay.  Now  if  one  yard  of  cloth  occasions 
a  tax  of  3  cents,  how  much  tax  must  be  paid  on  six  millions  of 
yards  ?  Answer,  $  180,000— equal  to  $227  bounty  per  head  for 
each  operative,  young  and  old,  male  and  female,  employed  in 
their  manufacture. 

Now  we  do  maintain,  and  defy  contradiction,  that  it  would 
be  better  for  the  public,  rather  than  pay  this  enormous  tax  to 
support  this  single  factory,  to  make  up  a  purse  equal  to  $100 
a  head  for  these  790  operatives,  and  give  them  each  that  sum 
as  an  annuity  for  standing  idle,  or,  if  it  be  an  object  to  have 
them  employed,  for  turning  grindstones.  The  public  would 
thereby  be  a  gainer  of  a  sum  equal  to  $127  a  head  upon  all 
these  operatives,  or,  in  the  aggregate,  of  $101,000 — and  they 
could  well  afford  to  do  this,  and  even  pay  for  all  the  oil,  coal, 
flour  and  leather,  consumed  by  the  factory,  which  would 
amount  to  about  $12,500  more. 

The  letter  then  proceeds — 

"  The  woollen  mill  is  a  fine  6  story  brick  building,  220  feet 
in  length,  containing  all  the  machinery  necessary  for  the  manu- 
facture of  from  120  to  130,000  yards  of  fine  broadcloth  yearly. 
This  is  also  said  to  be  the  largest  woollen  manufactory  in  Ame- 
rica. The  consumption  of  the  raw  material,  and  various  arti- 
cles of  commerce,  is  immense.  Upwards  of  200,000  pounds 
of  wool,  5000  gallons  of  oil,  150  tons  of  anthracite  coal,  besides 
indigo,  madder,  copperas,  together  with  numerous  kinds  of 
drugs  necessary  in  the  manufacture  of  woollen  cloth,  annually 
giving  employment,  within  the  establishment,  to  300  individuals. 

"  Connected  with  the  woollen  is  a  carpet  manufactory,  where 
the  best  description  of  ingrain  carpeting  is  made.  The  perfec- 
tion of  the  dye,  beauty  of  arrangement  of  the  colours,  and  taste 
in  figures,  are  not  surpassed  by  the  best  quality  of  those  im- 
ported. This  factory  is  capable  of  producing  150,000  yards 
annually. 

"  This  Company,  "  The  Great-Falls  Manufacturing,"  have  a 
capital  of  one  million  of  dollars,  and  own  most  of  the  property 
in  and  around  the  village. 

"  The  churches  are  handsomely  located,  on  rising  ground, 
at  the  south  of  the  village,  and  they  are  built  in  a  style  of  great 
neatness.     The  first  in  beauty  and  architecture  is  for  the  use  of 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  389 

the  Congregationalists,  who  are  said  to  comprise  most  of  the 
persons  of  standing  and  influence.  The  Methodists  and  Bap- 
lists  have  also  separate  churches,  and  are  more  numerous  than 
the  Congre'TationaHsts." 

From  the  foregoing  extract  we  learn,  that  300  individuals 
are  employed  in  a  factory  which  produces  120  to  130,000  yards 
of  fine  broadcloth  yearly — which  is  equal,  taking  the  lowest 
estimate,  to  400  yards  per  head.  In  this  journal  we  have  pub- 
lished various  statements,  proving  that  during  the  year  1831 
large  quantities  of  fine  broadcloths  have  been  imported  into 
this  country,  and  sold  at  a  good  profit,  after  paying  from  50  to 
100  per  centum  duty.  At  the  late  Convention  of  the  Manu- 
facturers at  New  York,  it  was  stated  by  one  of  the  speakers 
that  the  real  protection  enjoyed  by  the  manufacturers  did  not 
exceed  40  to  45  per  centum,  owing  to  fraudulent  entries  at  the 
custom-house ;  but  this  assertion  was  repudiated  by  the  official 
Address,  which  denied  the  existence,  to  any  great  extent,  of 
frauds  upon  the  revenue.  We  have  investigated  this  subject 
minutely,  and  positively  aver  that  this  amount  falls  short  of  the 
actual  protection.  The  duty,  therefore,  on  fine  broadcloths, 
not  being  a  prohibitory  one,  the  duty  paid  on  importation  is 
the  precise  measure  of  the  tax  paid  by  the  consumer.  This 
tax  upon  all  cloths,  costing  abroad  above  $1.50  per  running 
yard,  and  less  than  $3.75  per  running  yard,  amounts  to 
$1.68  3-4  per  running  yard;  and  as  this  is  the  quality  called 
fine  broadcloths  manufactured  in  this  country,  it  follows  that 
the  bounty  paid  to  the  cloth-makers  at  Great  Falls  Village 
over  and  above  the  price  at  ichich  foreign  cloth  of  the  same 
quality  could  be  purchased,  upon  120,000  yards,  is  $202,500. 
This  sum  amounts  to  a  bounty  of  $G75  to  each  operative  em- 
ployed in  this  manufacture ! ! !  Now  we  would  candidly  ask 
the  reader  whether  it  would  not  be  good  policy  for  the  wearers 
of  cloths  to  raise  a  fund  and  to  allow  each  of  these  operatives 
a  salary  of  $100  a  year,  if  they  would  only  direct  their  Ame- 
rican industry  to  the  turning  of  grindstones,  and  leave  the  pub- 
lic to  buy  their  cloth  where  they  could  get  it  cheapest  ? 

But  it  ma\^  be  asked,  what  would  the  farmers  do  with  their 
200,000  pounds  of  wool,  if  it  was  not  for  this  factory  ?  We 
answer,  the  consumers  of  cloth  could  afford,  out  of  their  sav- 
ings, to  pay  the  fiirmers  a  bonus  as  great  as  the  extra  profit 
(equal  to  the  protecting  duty  on  wool  of  4  cents  per  pound 
and  50  per  centum  ad  valorem)  which  they  derive  by  raising 
wool  in  preference  to  other  things — which  is  the  most  they 
ought  in  reason  to  desire.  If  this  should  be  25  cents  a  pound, 
(and  upon  coarse  qualities  it  would  not  be  ten  cents,)  it  would 
amount  to  but  $50,000  per  annum.  They  could  even  afford 
to  pay  more,  without  suffering  by  the  bargain ;  and  could,  be- 
si-Ies,  pav  out  and  out  for  all  the  coal,  oil,  indigo,  madder, 
'2K* 


390  Assays  on  the  principles 

copperas,  and  all  the  other  things  used  in  the  manufacture; 
and  in  addition  to  this,  if  it  were  necessary,  a  profit  to  the 
owners  of  the  establishment  equal  to  10  per  centum  upon  the 
capital  invested  in  buildings  and  machinery.  As  this  is  an  im- 
portant subject,  we  will  state  it  in  the  form  of  an  account, 
thus: 

Salary  paid  to  300  operatives,  at  $  100  per  head        $30,000 
Farmers'  profit  on  200,000  lbs.  wool,  at  25  cents  50,000 

5000  gallons  of  oil,  at  $1,         ....  5,000 

150  tons  anthracite  coal,  at  $8  per  ton,     -         -  1,200 

Indigo,  madder,  copperas,  &c.,  suppose    -         -  3,800 

Profits  on  capital  invested  by  the  stockholders,  in 
buildings  and  machinery,  estimated  at  $250,000, 
at  10  per  centum, 25,000 


Total $115,000 

Now  if  this  sum  were  deducted  from  the  $202,500,  the 
amount  saved  to  the  consumers  in  the  price  of  the  cloth,  there 
would  be  a  clear  gain  to  them  of  $87,500,  besides  being  in  pos- 
session of  oil,  coal,  drugs,  &c.,  charged  at  $10,000. 

Those  who  have  never  turned  their  attention  to  analyzing 
the  deceptive  appearance  of  these  tariff  statistics,  will  be  as- 
tonished to  see  how  utterly  worthless  they  are  as  the  basis  of  a 
system  to  be  adopted  by  an  intelligent  nation.  And  yet,  such 
as  we  have  shown  these  cotton  and  woollen  concerns  to  be, 
can  most  of  the  other  kindred  establishments  be  proved  to  be. 
The  real  truth  is,  that  the  tax  paid  by  the  nation  upon  the 
cotton,  woollen,  iron,  and  sugar  monopolies,  besides  the  full 
worth  of  the  goods,  is  greater  in  amount  than  the  whole  sum 
of  the  wages  paid  to  the  whole  mass  of  operatives  employed 
in  them,  and  is  as  much  a  dead  loss  to  the  public  as  if  thej'' 
were  to  pay  a  similar  amount  to  the  same  people  for  turning 
grindstones,  provided  they  enjoy  the  liberty  of  getting  their 
commodities  at  the  cheapest  market. 

In  regard  to  the  carpet  manufacture  referred  to  above,  the 
writer  has  left  us  in  the  dark  as  to  the  most  material  part  of 
his  statemeot,  viz.,  the  number  of  persons  it  takes  to  make 
150,000  yards  of  ingrain  carpets.  It  is  possible,  however,  to 
arrive  at  some  conclusion,  without  such  aid,  and  we  shall  at- 
tempt to  do  it. 

Ingrain  carpets  are  worth  in  this  city,  by  retail,  about  130 
cents  per  square  yard.  At  the  Great  Falls  Manufactory  they 
cannot  be  worth  more  than  120  cents  by  wholesale.  The  duty 
upon  ingrain  carpets  is  40  cents  per  square  yard ;  and  as  this 
duty  is  not  prohibitory,  foreign  ones  being  constantly  imported, 
it  follows  that  a  tax  is  paid  to  the  carpet  concern  of  the  Great 
Falls  Factory  of  $60,000  per  annum.  In  other  words,  they  sell 
their  carpets  at  $60,000  more  than  they  are  worth — and  for 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  391 

the  benefit  of  how  many  labourers  ?  Certainly  not  more  than 
half  the  number  employed  in  producing  the  cloth.  If  150 
then  be  assumed,  it  will  appear  that  these  sixty  thousand  dol- 
lars are  equal  to  a  bounty  of  Sip  400  per  head  of  the  operatives, 
which  is  no  trifle  to  be  paid  by  the  purchasers  of  carpets  in 
addition  to  the  full  value  of  the  article. 

With  such  a  power  to  lay  the  nation  under  contribution  as 
that  possessed  by  the  Great-Falls  Manufactory  for  its  support, 
it  is  no  wonder  that  this  wealthy  corporation  should  "  own 
most  of  the  property  in  and  around  the  village,"  and  be  able 
to  build  churches.  With  a  grant  of  an  equally  profitable  mo- 
nopoly by  Congress,  we  would  undertake  to  create  a  flourish- 
ing village  on  the  top  of  the  Catskill  mountain,  or  in  the  pine 
barrens  of  South  Carolina. 


ESSAY    No.  CXX. 


JANCARY  18,  1832. 


Vested  Interests ;  true   character  of.     The  poor  have   as  much 
right  to  be  protected  in  theirs,  as  the  rich  have. 

WE  hear  a  great  deal  said  about  vested  interests  in  manufac- 
tures ;  and  when  a  poor  man  complains  that  he  has  to  pay  a 
tax  of  a  hundred  per  cent,  on  his  coat,  which  he  wants  to  get 
clear  of,  he  is  gravely  told  that  he  cannot  be  exempted  from 
that  tax,  because  it  will  interfere  with  the  vested  interests  of  his 
rich  neighbour,  the  manufacturer.  Now  we  should  like  to 
know  whether,  in  a  free  country  like  this,  and  under  a  govern- 
ment instituted  for  no  earthly  object  but  to  establish  equality 
of  rights  and  equality  of  protection — we  should  like  to  know, 
we  say,  whether  a  poor  man  has  not  a  vested  interest  in  a 
cheap  coat,  and  whether  his  vested  interest  does  not  as  much 
entitle  him  to  the  care  and  consideration  of  the  government,  as 
the  vested  interest  of  the  manufacturer  ?  If  not,  we  should  like 
to  see  the  reason  pointed  out.  It  may  be  said,  perhaps,  that 
the  rich  man's  interest  is  a  large  one,  whilst  that  of  the  poor 
man  is  a  small  one.  True  ;  but  is  justice,  in  a  free  country,  to 
be  meted  out  to  men  in  proportion  to  their  wealth  1  Is  the  poor 
man  less  entitled  to  his  own  than  the  rich  man  ?  No  one  will, 
certainly,  dare  to  reply  in  the  aflirmative,  whatever  he  may 
think  :  but  should  there  be  any  who  entertain  views  so  unjust, 
we  will  meet  them  with  an  argument  which  they  cannot  gain- 
say. It  is  this.  The  aggregate  of  the  vested  interests  of  all 
the  poor  men  in  cheap  coats,  is  greater  than  the  aggregate  of 


392  ESSAYS    ON    THE     PRINCIPLES 

the  vested  interests  of  all  the  rich  men  in  the  manufactories 
which  produce  cloth  for  those  coats.  The  money  taken  out 
of  the  pockets  of  all  the  poor  men,  in  the  shape  of  a  tax  upon 
their  coats,  is  equal  to  what  goes  into  the  pockets  of  all  the 
manufacturers,  in  the  shape  of  bounty  for  their  cloth,  and  what 
goes  into  the  treasury  besides.  If  for  every  ten  dollars  the 
manufacturers  receive  in  the  shape  of  bounty,  one  is  paid  into 
the  treasury  upon  foreign  cloths,  in  the  shape  of  duty,  it  is 
evident  that  the  vested  interests  of  the  manufacturers  are  only 
equal  to  ten  dollars,  whilst  that  of  the  wearers  of  coats  is 
eleven  dollars. 

Now  here,  it  will  be  seen,  are  vested  interests  of  opposite 
character ;  and  the  question  ought  to  be,  which  is  the  interest 
which  has  the  highest  claim  for  protection  ?  Is  it  the  one  which 
exists  of  natural  and  political  right,  or  is  it  the  one  which  was 
only  brought  into  existence  by  a  violation  of  natural  right,  and 
which  can  only  be  continued  by  a  perseverance  in  that  viola- 
tion 1  The  case  appears  to  us  to  be  not  at  all  different  from 
those  which  every  day  are  presented  before  our  courts  of  jus- 
tice. A  man  having  a  vested  interest  in  what  is  called  a  purse, 
is  robbed  on  the  highway,  whereupon  the  robber  vests  the 
said  interest  in  himself,  and  whines  most  piteously  at  the  idea  of 
having  to  give  it  up.  No  doubt,  if  he  could  be  tried  by  a  jury 
of  robbers,  they  would  decide  that  his  vested  interest  ought 
not  to  be  disturbed.  But  as  juries  are  generally  composed  of 
different  materials,  their  view  of  the  matter  is  different. 

In  the  United  States  every  citizen,  whether  he  be  high  or 
low,  rich  or  poor,  gentle  or  simple,  nabob  or  working-man, 
has  a  vested  interest,  by  the  nature  of  the  government,  in 
exemption  from  all  taxation,  except  for  the  support  of  govern- 
ment. Of  this  vested  interest  he  cannot  be  deprived,  but  by  a 
wrong;  and  if  he  has  been  once  deprived  of  it,  it  is  infatuation 
to  say  that  he  ought  not  to  be  reinstated  in  his  rights,  for  fear 
of  doing  injury  to  the  wrong-doer — not,  indeed,  by  making  him 
disgorge  all  the  accumulated  fruits  of  his  injustice,  as  strict 
retribution  would  require — but  by  putting  an  estoppel  on  his 
continuance  to  do  wrong.  As  well  might  it  be  urged,  that  the 
robber  above  refered  to  should  not  only  be  excused  from  giv- 
ing up  his  plunder,  but  that  it  would  be  an  act  of  oppression 
to  deprive  him  of  the  privilege  of  robbing  the  same  man  every 
time  he  passed  over  Hounslow  Heath.  Turn  it  as  you  please — 
examine  it  over  and  over — and  it  cannot  be  controverted,  that 
a  man  who  has  a  vested  interest  in  his  pocket,  in  the  shape  of 
a  silver  dollar,  has  a  greater  claim  upon  the  government  to 
enable  him  to  keep  it  there,  than  any  other  individual  has  upon 
that  government  to  enable  him  to  extort  it  from  its  possessor 
without  an  equivalent.     This  is  the  doctrine  oi  vested  interests. 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  393 

and  as  it  is  a  matter  which  has  deceived  many,  as  to  its  true 
character,  we  shall  endeavour  hereafter  to  throw  more  light 
upon  it. 


ESSAY    No.    C  X  X  I. 


JANUARY  25, 1832. 


Remarks  on  Mr.  Clay^s  Speech  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  delivered  on  the  11th  of  January,  1832,  in  favour  of 
reducing  certain  duties,  and  altering  the  Tariff. 

WE  publish  to-day  the  Speech  of  Mr.  Clay,  in  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States,  on  the  11th  instant,  in  relation  to  his  scheme 
for  relieving  the  wealthy  consumers  of  luxuries  from  taxation, 
and  for  leaving  the  necessaries  of  life,  consumed  by  the  poor 
and  labouring  classes,  permanently  burdened  with  heavy  duties. 
We  propose  to  offer  a  few  remarks  on  some  of  its  prominent 
features,  and  where  we  can  agree  with  the  orator,  we  will 
say  so. 

That  the  policy  of  restriction  is  "  deeply  seated  in  the  affec- 
tions of  a  large  majority  of  the  people"  of  the  Western  and 
Northern  States,  is  but  too  true ;  but  that  it  "  stands  self-vin- 
dicated in  the  general  prosperity,  in  the  rich  fruits  it  has  scat- 
tered over  the  land,  in  the  experience  of  all  prosperous  and 
powerful  nations,  present  and  past,  and  now  in  that  of  our 
own,"  is  one  of  those  postulates  that  something  more  than 
bare  assertion  is  requisite  to  establish.  So  far  from  its  being  a 
self-evident  proposition,  we  think  that  the  converse  of  it  is 
nearer  the  truth.  Most  of  the  prosperity  which  now  exists,  at 
home  and  abroad,  is  the  result  of  that  portion  of  freedom  which 
has  been  left,  in  every  country,  to  some  branches  of  its  trade  ; 
and  to  ascribe,  therefore,  the  prosperity  of  nations  to  a  cause 
incapable  of  producing  prosperity,  is  almost  as  sound  an  ar- 
gument as  it  would  be  to  insist  that  the  ability  of  a  labourer 
with  one  arm  to  earn  his  living,  is  due  to  the  arm  he  has  lost 
and  not  to  the  one  that  remains.  This  mode  of  reasoning, 
which  belongs  to  the  advocates  of  restriction,  of  taking  for 
granted  the  whole  matter  in  dispute,  may  do  very  well  for  the 
political  arithmeticians ;  but  we  should  have  been  better  pleased 
had  the  orator  told  us  whether,  by  "  rich  fruits"  we  are  to  under- 
stand the  crisis  of  the  government,  brought  on  by  the  despera- 
tion of  the  South,  or  the  tirenty  per  cent,  dividends  of  the  New 
England  manufacturing  corporations. 

The  compliment  paid  to  the  late  Mr.  Lowndes  was  merited, 


394  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

and  will  no  doubt  be  received  in  South  Carolina  as  a  species 
of  balm  to  mollify  the  wounds  inflicted  by  the  chains  which 
now  gall  the  people  of  that  state.  But  we  cannot  so  readily 
admit  the  compliment  paid  to  the  Congress  which  passed  "  the 
abused  Tariff  of  1824."  From  the  mention  made  of  it  by  Mr. 
Clay,  a  stranger,  unacquainted  with  the  motives  which  led  to 
that  act,  might  imagine  that  that  Congress  was  composed  of 
financiers,  who,  by  great  skill  and  wisdom  in  fiscal  concerns, 
had  drafted  a  bill  designed  to  eflect  a  speedy  reduction  of  the 
Public  Debt.  Not  so  :  nothing  was  further  from  their  intentions. 
Their  design,  so  far  from  being  to  raise  a  revenue,  was  to  pre- 
vent a  revenue  from  being  raised.  So  far  from  wishing  to  pay 
the  Public  Debt,  their  object  was  to  prevent  its  ever  being  paid. 
And  is  it  not  a  high  joke,  that  because  the  wants  of  the  coun- 
try were  so  great  that  the  people  were  compelled  to  pay  the 
increased  price  of  commodities  occasioned  by  that  act,  rather 
than  do  without  them,  thereby  keeping  up  the  public  revenue, 
this  undiminished  income  should  be  pronounced  to  have  been  the 
end  in  view,  when  it  was  merely  an  eflect  of  a  cause  designed 
to  produce  an  opposite  result  ?  In  this  position  we  think  there 
is  a  want  of  that  candour  which  ought  to  characterize  one  aspir- 
ing to  an  elevated  post.  What  should  we  think  of  the  fairness 
of  a  man  who  should  throw  another  into  a  pit,  with  a  view  of 
breaking  his  neck,  and  who,  finding  the  man  come  out  unhurt 
with  a  bag  of  gold  in  his  hand,  fnmd  at  the  bottom,  should 
attempt  to  cajole  the  injured  man,  by  telling  him  that  it  was  to 
enable  him  to  become  rich  that  he  had  cast  him  into  the  pit  ? 
That  the  revenue  would  have  been  greater,  since  1824,  with- 
out the  increased  duties,  than  with  them,  we  flatter  ourselves 
would  not  be  denied  by  any  sound  financier  ;  and,  therefore,  to 
ascribe  the  final  extinguishment  of  the  debt,  in  1832,  to  a  law 
preventing  the  increase  of  the  revenue,  when,  without  such  law 
it  would  have  been  extinguished  in  1830,  is  a  droll  way  of  dis- 
playing an  acquaintance  with  financial  concerns.  In  regard  to 
the  assertion,  that  "  no  administration  can  justly  claim  for  itself 
the  merit  of  having  paid  the  debt,  we  admit  the  correctness  of 
it  in  one  sense :  neither  the  last  nor  the  present  administration 
assisted  in  bringing  money  into  the  Treasury.  But  we  feel  bound 
to  say,  that  the  present  administration  may  justly  claim  for 
itself  the  merit  of  having  applied  funds  to  the  payment  of  the 
debt,  which  could  not  have  been  devoted  to  that  object  had  the 
Internal  Improvement  policy  of  the  preceding  administration 
been  persevered  in  by  General  Jackson ;  and,  hence,  we  con- 
clude that  his  administration  may  justly  claim  to  itself  the 
merit  of  having  greatly  hastened  the  payment  of  the  debt.  For 
instance,  when  General  Jackson  came  into  office,  the  debt  was 
about  $58,000,000.  Had  he  not  set  his  face  against  the  system 
of  unconstitutional  appropriations,  the  debt,  this  day,  would  still 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  395 

have  been  $58,000,000,  and  twenty  years  hence  it  would  have 
been  more.  No  man  can  doubt  of  this  who  recolle-cts  that 
schemes  were  on  foot,  and  appUcations  were  before  Congress, 
in  1830,  for  appropriations  for  Internal  Improvements,  and 
other  public  works,  to  the  amount  of  upwards  of  ninety  mil- 
lions of  dollars. 

In  regard  to  the  payment  of  the  three  per  cent,  stock,  we  dif- 
fer wholly  from  the  views  of  the  orator.  That  stock  was  creat- 
ed for  debts  due  to  public  creditors,  who  were  by  the  very  ac- 
ceptance of  it,  (bearing  an  interest  of  but  three  per  cent.,  when 
money  was  richly  worth  six  per  cent.,)  virtually  deprived  of 
nearly  one-half  of  their  capitals.  The  obligation  of  the  govern- 
ment to  pay  that  debt  when  all  other  stocks  bearing  a  higher 
interest  are  paid  off,  is  as  much  incumbent  on  it  as  the  discharge 
of  a  similar  debt  would  be  upon  an  individual.  The  idea  that 
the  people,  who  forced  the  public  creditors  to  submit  to  their 
terms  of  payment,  are  not  bound  to  pay  their  debts  when  they 
are  able,  because,  by  keeping  their  creditors  out  of  their  just 
dues  they  can  make  a  profit  by  speculating  on  other  people's 
money,  appears  to  resemble  the  transaction  of  a  merchant,  of 
whom  we  once  heard,  who  always,  when  he  could  get  one  per 
cent,  a  month  for  money  in  the  market,  used  to  let  his  bonds 
lie  over  at  the  custom-house,  knowing  that  when  judgment 
was  obtained  against  him  he  was  liable  only  to  an  interest  of 
six  per  cent,  per  annum,  and  that  he  could  thus  pocket  at  the 
rate  of  six  per  cent,  per  annum,  by  his  want  of  punctuality. 
We  should  be  sorry  to  see  any  such  doctrines  introduced  into 
the  moral  code  of  our  Treasury,  for  we  differ  from  the  orator 
in  his  views  of  the  "  moral  value  of  the  payment  of  a  National 
Debt."  The  moral  value  consists  in  absolute  paijment,  when 
there  are  the  means  at  hand,  and  not  in  the  mere  existence  of 
an  ability  to  pay ;  and  it  is  to  a  confidence  in  the  payment  of 
these  three  per  cents,  when  the  other  stocks  were  paid  off, 
that  some  of  their  present  owners  have  paid  for  them  very 
nearly  the  par  value. 

But  let  us  see  what  is  this  mighty  sum,  which  thirteen  mil- 
lions of  people  are  to  save  annually  by  the  course  recommend- 
ed, and  which  has  excited  this  new-born  zeal  for  the  people  ? 
Precisely  three  cents  a  piece  per  annum,  for  the  number  of  years 
which  Mr.  Clay  would  postpone  the  payment.  The  three  per 
cent,  stocks  amount  to  $13,296,026.21,  which  is  just  one  dol- 
lar a  head  upon  the  population.  Now  let  us  ask,  is  there  in 
this  community  a  single  individual  who  would  forego  the  sa- 
tisfaction of  seeing  the  nation  grimily  exemjd  from  the  Revolu- 
tionary Debt,  now  of  forty  years'  standing,  merely  that  he 
might  save  three  cents  a  year  for  a  few  years  longer  ? — for  we 
can  hardly  suppose  that  Mr.  Clay  would  postpone  the  payment 
for  ever.     We  think  there  is  not  such  an  individual,  unless  he 


396  ESSAYS    OiN    THE     PRINCIPLES 

be  found  amongst  that  class  who  consider  a  national  debt  as  a 
national  blessing,  and  the  ability,  without  the  will  to  pay,  as  a 
commendable  trait  in  the  character  of  a  government.  And 
we  are  not  even  a  little  astonished,  that  a  man  who  thinks  so 
little  of  abstracting  "  from  the  pockets  of  the  people,"  in  the 
form  of  taxes  upon  consumption  and  bounties  to  manufacturers, 
at  least  five  dollars  a  piece  per  annum,  should  display  such 
extreme  sympathy  for  them  when  called  upon  to  pay  three 
cents  a  year,  the  balance  due  of  the  sum  paid  for  their  liberty. 
If  this  is  not  straining  at  a  gnat  and  swallowing  a  camel,  we 
know  not  what  can  be  so  considered. 

But  although  differing  from  IMr.  Clay  upon  so  many  points, 
we  are  pleased  to  find  in  his  speech  some  few  sentiments  to 
which  we  can  fully  subscribe. 

He  speaks  of  "  the  repeal  or  reduction  of  duties"  "  as  reliev- 
ing the  consumption  of  the  country."  This  is  an  honest  con- 
fession, and  is  sufficient  to  put  to  shame  the  whole  herd  of  po- 
litical arithmeticians,  who  are  endeavouring  to  humbug  the  peo- 
ple with  the  notion  that  a  reduction  of  duties  has  a  tendency 
to  raise  prices.  You  shall  hear  a  shallow  pated  writer  pro- 
claim, that  "  theory  laughs  at  facts,"  because  the  demand  for 
coffee  throughout  the  world  has  produced  a  rise  in  its  price 
greater  than  our  reduction  of  duties,  which  could  not  be  met 
by  an  increased  supply,  owing  to  the  fact  that  coffee  cannot 
be  spun  or  wove,  but  must  be  produced  on  trees  which  do  not 
bear  fruit  in  less  than  three  years.  To  Mr.  Clay,  then,  we  are 
indebted  for  blotting  out  this  nonsense  from  the  Tariff  argu- 
ment— for  after  this  admission  we  do  not  think  any  honest 
man  will  venture  his  reputation  by  re-asserting  it. 

In  Mr.  Clay's  opposition  to  a  distribution  of  the  surplus  re- 
venue, we  also  heartily  concur.  Upon  that  subject  we  have 
never  had  but  one  opinion,  and  that  opinion  has  been  repeated- 
ly expressed  in  this  journal.  It  is  a  pity,  however,  that  Mr. 
Clay  cannot  perceive,  that  all  the  objections  urged  by  him 
against  raising  a  fund  for  distribution  amongst  the  several 
states,  ai'e  equally  applicable  to  the  raising  of  a  fund  for  ex- 
penditures on  Internal  Improvements.  It  would  be  taken  "  from 
the  pockets  of  one  portion  of  the  people,  to  be  ultimately  re- 
turned to  the  same  pockets,"  which  would  be  expensive  and 
"  unwise,"  or  "  collected  from  one  portion  of  the  people  and 
given  to  another,"  which  would  be  "  unjust."  And  if  one  pro- 
cess is  unconstitutional,  because  no  authority  for  it  is  found  in 
the  Constitution,  it  is  difficult  to  imagine  why  the  other  is  not 
equally  so,  seeing  that  there  is  in  that  instrument  the  same  si- 
lence observed  in  relation  to  it. 

To  do  justice,  however,  to  Mr.  Clay,  although  he  wishes  a 
part  of  the  revenue  arising  from  imposts  to  go  to  Internal  Im- 
provements, yet  he  wishes  that  the  principal  fund  should  be  de- 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  397 

rived  from  the  sale  of  the  public  lands.  We  confess,  however, 
that  we  do  not  see  any  sound  reason  why  the  money  arising 
from  the  sale  of  the  common  pi'operty  of  the  nation  should  be 
regarded  as  altering  the  character  of  the  expenditure.  It  is  still 
an  expenditure  of  a  I'und  coming  out  of  the  pockets  of  the  people, 
and  would  be  so  as  long  as  a  dollar  were  derived  from  the  cus- 
tom-house. The  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the  public  lands  diminish 
the  amount  that  must  be  raised  by  taxation,  and  the  burden  is 
not  the  less  felt,  whether  two  and  a  half  millions  be  taken  for 
Internal  Improvements,  from  the  money  specifically  raised  from 
duties,  or  from  the  sale  of  lands.  But  we  are  not  surprised  to  see 
the  staiid  taken  by  the  champion  of  the  West  for  the  advocates 
of  taking  Southern  and  Eastern  money  to  make  roads  in  the 
West.  "  As  certain  as  you  preside  in  that  chair,  or  as  the 
sun  performs  its  diurnal  revolution,"  says  Mr.  Clay,  "  they 
will  not  be  satisfied  with  an  abandonment  of  the  policy."  We 
think  this  quite  probable.  The  Internal  Improvement  half  of 
the  American  System  party  will  die  quite  as  hard  as  the  Ta- 
ritf  half  No  body  likes  to  give  up  inordinate  gains,  and  it  is 
therefore  quite  natural,  that  those  who  expect  to  profit  by  a 
particular  scheme  of  national  policy,  should  hold  on  to  their 
interests.  It  seems,  however,  that  the  West  will  not  come  to 
Washington  in  "  a  tone  of  menace  or  supplication,  but  in  the 
language  of  conscious  right."  We  had  thought  the  experi- 
enced Senator  was  too  well  actjuainted  with  the  practice  of 
Congress,  to  suffer  himself  to  be  seduced  by  the  vain  idea  that 
"  the  language  of  conscious  right"  can  eflect  any  thing  there. 
An  interested  majority  will  never  listen  to  such  language ;  for 
like  the  Wellington  Ministry,  in  reference  to  the  Catholic  Ques- 
tion, and  like  the  present  British  House  of  Lords,  in  relation  to 
Reform,  they  are  to  be  moved  by  nothing  but  their  fears.  The 
fear  that  the  Western  states  may  some  of  these  days  insist 
upon  holding  all  the  national  domain  within  their  borders,  in 
fee  simple  for  their  own  especial  and  individual  use,  might 
possibly  present  the  question  in  such  a  light  as  would  have  its 
influence  ;  but  this  would  be  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a 
measure  brought  about  by  the  fear  of  the  nullification  of  the  land 
laws — an  event  which  we  consider  quite  likely  to  happen,  not- 
withstanding the  great  hostility  of  the  West  to  the  nullification 
of  any  other  laws,  if  they  cannot  accomplish  their  object  in  any 
other  way. 

As  to  the  West  having  no  "direct  interest"  in  the  expenditures 
for  the  navy  or  the  fortifications,  we  apprehend  the  honourable 
Senator  forgets  that  the  great  object  of  the  navy  is,  to  protect 
the  agricultural  interests  of  the  country,  and  commerce  only 
as  secondary  thereto — that  the  object  of  fortifications  is  to  pro- 
tect the  National  Independence,  in  which  all  feel  an  equal  in- 
terest, from  Maine  to  Louisiana,  and  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
2L 


398  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

Rocky  Mountains.  But  how  he  could  assert  that  the  West 
has  no  dh"ect  interest  in  the  expenditure  for  the  army,  when  it  is 
known  that  many  contracts  for  suppHes  are  made  in  Ohio,  and 
that  a  considerable  portion  of  the  army  is  employed  to  protect 
the  West  from  the  assaults  of  the  Indians,  we  are  not  able  to 
conceive.  Such  doctrines  as  this  do  more  to  weaken  the  con- 
fidence of  the  people  in  the  blessings  and  benefits  of  the  Union, 
than  all  the  threats  of  disunion  that  could  be  uttered  ;  for  when 
the  protection  of  the  national  honour  and  independence  shall  be 
supposed  to  be  only  of  local  interest,  the  days  of  the  Repubhc 
may  be  considered  as  numbered. 

In  giving  his  projet  for  a  modification  of  the  Tariflf,  and  for 
his  assumption  of  the  ground  of  a  pacificator,  Mr.  Clay  re- 
sorts to  a  curious  expedient.  He  conjures  up  in  his  imagina- 
tion an  extreme  position,  which  has  never  been  assumed  even 
by  the  most  unconscionable  of  the  Tariff  party,  which  is  that 
of  augmenting  the  duties  on  the  protected  articles.  We  are 
not  aware  that  any  such  ground  has  been  assumed  by  any  por- 
tion of  the  favoured  monopolists.  The  most  that  the  cotton  and 
woollen  manufactures,  the  iron  masters,  and  the  sugar  plant- 
ers, have  desired,  is,  that  the  bounties  in  their  favour  may  not 
be  reduced.  If  an  arbiter  proposes  to  reconcile  conflicting  in- 
terests by  splitting  the  difference,  he  is  bound  in  fairness  to 
take  the  demands  of  both  the  contending  parties  as  they  stand. 
He  is  not  justified  in  taking  higher  ground  for  either  than  what 
is  taken  by  himself,  for  the  sake  of  favouring  him  in  the  striking 
of  the  happy  medium,  or  juste  milieu.  This  Mr.  Clay  has 
done,  and  this  for  the  purpose  of  making  it  appear  that  in  his 
proposition  there  are  concessions  made  by  his  party. 

And  what  is  this  juste  milieu,  think  you,  gentle  reader  ? 
The  advocates  of  the  liberty  of  employment  have  never  com- 
plained of  the  high  duties  on  wine  and  silk  stockings,  upon 
spices  and  anchovies,  upon  olives  and  capers,  upon  jewellery 
and  lace,  upon  court-plaister  and  billiard  balls.  The  whole 
force  of  their  opposition  has  been  directed  against  the  high  du- 
ties on  the  necessaries  of  life,  such  as  coarse  cotton  and  wool- 
len clothing,  used  chiefly  by  the  working  classes,  upon  iron,  and 
sugar,  and  the  various  other  commodities  consumed  in  greater 
quantities  by  the  poor  than  by  the  rich — whilst  their  opponents 
have  assumed  a  ground  diametrically  the  reverse.  And  now 
steps  forward  Mr.  Clay,  in  the  attitude  of  a  self-constituted 
arbitrator,  and  says,  in  substance,  "  Gentlemen,  there  is  a  wide 
difference  of  opinion  between  you — I  will  settle  it  for  you  in 
the  twinkling  of  an  eye.  Take  off  the  duties  from  silk  stock- 
ings and  Champaigne  and  Burgundy,  and  the  other  luxuries 
and  delicacies  used  by  the  rich,  and  leave  the  whole  burden  of 
supporting  the  government  upon  the  shoulders  of  the  poor. 
This  mode  is  the  most  equitable  and  reasonable,  and  it  pre- 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  399 

sents  an  undehateahle  ground,  on  which  I  had  hoped  we  could 
all  safely  tread,  without  difficulty.  It  exacts  no  sacrifice  of 
principle  from  the  opponent  of  the  American  System."  Hear 
him,  hear  him,  ye  People  of  the  South  ! — ^hear  him,  hear  him, 
ye  People  of  the  North  who  are  not  blinded  by  pecuniary  in- 
terest or  political  prejudice !  Is  it  possible  that  the  great 
Statesman  of  the  West  should  have  paid  so  little  attention  to 
the  discussions  of  the  last  ten  years,  as  to  have  imbibed  the 
notion  that  the  Free  Trade  Party  was  contending  for  a  reduc- 
tion of  the  duties  upon  Imperial  tea  and  Brussels  lace  ?  Why, 
the  veriest  tyro  in  politics  could  not  have  made  such  a  mis- 
take, and  God  help  the  country  if  ever  such  statesman-like 
views  as  these  get  into  power.  The  idea  of  coaxing  the  Free 
Trade  Party  into  these  terms,  is,  to  be  sure,  funny  enough, 
coming  from  the  chief  of  a  party  which  claims,  as  the  settled 
policy  of  the  country,  every  scheme  which  enures  to  their  es- 
pecial benefit.  Old  birds  are  not  to  be  caught  with  chatT.  To 
this  project,  then,  we  reply  in  Mr.  Clay's  own  language,  ap- 
plied to  a  very  proper  mode  objected  to  by  him,  "  there  are  iiv 
superable  objections," — and  we  have  no  hesitation  in  express- 
ing our  belief,  that  a  more  certain  mode  of  fixing  for  ever  on 
the  country  the  chains  of  the  Restrictive  System  could  not  be 
devised,  than  this  very  aristocratic  scheme,  which  proposes  to 
exempt  the  rich  from  taxation  on  their  luxuries. 

We  are  glad,  however,  to  see  that  Mr.  Clay  is  opposed  to 
entire  prohibition.  This  he  acknowledges,  and  he  therefore 
washes  his  hands  of  a  large  portion  of  his  party,  who  believe 
that  nothing  but  prohibition  can  keep  up  their  monopolies. 
Mr.  Clay  is,  however,  in  favour  of  going  so  close  to  the  wind, 
as  just  to  permit  the  introduction  of  as  much  of  a  foreign  ar- 
ticle as  would  be  good  for  sore  eyes.  This,  he  thinks,  would 
keep  up  "  a  salutary  competition,"  and  he  also  thinks,  that,  if 
the  door  to  importation  "  be  hermetrically  sealed,  the  danger 
is  incurred  of  monopoly.^''  How  precious  does  that  word  sound 
upon  our  ears  !  When  has  a  Tariff'  man  ever  before  pronounced 
monopoly  as  an  evil  to  be  guarded  against  ?  Surely  Mr.  Clay's 
faith  in  the  tenets  of  the  Tariff'  Church  lately  held  at  N.  York 
is  not  orthodox.  He  will  run  the  risk  of  excommunication  if 
he  continues  at  this  rate  to  let  out  the  real  belief  of  his  heart. 

There  is,  however,  some  allowance  to  be  made  for  Mr.  Clay's 
inconsistency  in  connecting  sound  principles  with  unsound  ap- 
plications. It  seems  that  it  is  not  easy  for  him  "  to  draw  the 
line  between  luxuries  and  necessaries.  It  will  be  difficult  to 
make  the  people  believe  that  bohca  tea  is  a  luxury,  and  the  ar- 
ticle of  fine  broadcloths  is  a  necessary  of  life."  Now,  unfor- 
tunately for  Mr.  Clay,  it  so  happens  that  nobody  ever  made 
the  assertion  which  he  so  triumphantly  disputes.  The  friends 
of  low  taxes,  in  Congress,  all  voted  in  favour  of  reducing  the 


400  ESSAYS    ON    THE     PRINCIPLES 

duty  on  bohea  tea  to  4  cents  a  pound,  its  present  rate,  which 
is  low  enough  in  all  conscience,  for  mere  revenue  purposes ; 
and  whilst  they  have  denounced  the  duty  on  coarse  woollens 
as  an  unjustifiable  tax,  amounting  as  it  does  to  from  45  to  225 
per  centum,  they  have  scarcely  ever  mentioned  the  duty  of  50 
per  centum  upon  the  finest  broadcloths,  except  for  the  purpose 
of  showing  the  discrimination  made,  by  the  American  System, 
between  the  poor  and  the  rich.  And  here  we  cannot  help  re- 
marking the  Quixotic  custom  of  the  tariff' reasoners.  Instead 
of  meeting  and  combating  the  positions  of  their  opponents, 
they  raise  up  wind-mills  and  attack  and  belabour  them  most 
lustily.  This  is  a  case  in  point,  but  it  shows  the  miserable 
ground  upon  which  the  Tariff  Party  stand  in  relation  to  the 
rights  of  the  poor.  Bohea  tea,  now  subject  to  the  moderate 
duty  of  4  cents  a  pound,  which  is  about  15  per  centum  of  its 
present  market  price,  (28  cents,)  is  the  only  article  in  the 
whole  list  of  foreign  commodities  consumed  chiefly  by  the 
poor,  which  Mr.  Clay  has  expressed  his  readiness  to  relieve 
from  taxation.  But  if  Mr.  Clay  finds  it  difficult  to  discri- 
minate between  luxuries  and  necessaries,  there  are  some  articles 
upon  which  he  can  possibly  have  no  doubt.  The  following  we 
consider  to  be  of  this  class,  and  we  publish  it  that  others  may 
see  that  there  can  be  no  such  doubt : 

Brown  sugar,  coarse  cottons  and  calicoes,  coarse  flannels, 
baizes,  and  woollen  cloths,  such  as  are  worn  by  the  farmers 
and  mechanics  and  their  families — iron  for  implements  of  agri- 
culture, ship  building,  and  machinery,  stoves  and  stove-pipes, 
and  other  such  things. 

If,  however,  Mr.  Clay  finds  it  difficult  to  distinguish  between 
a  luxury  and  a  necessary  of  life,  he  will  not  have  the  same 
ditficulty,  we  trust,  in  distinguishing  between  an  excessive  and 
a  moderate  duty  ;  and  upon  this  point  we  are  pleased  to  notice 
that  his  views  are  favourable  to  the  cause  of  Free  Trade.  "  If 
it  can  be  shown,"  says  he,  "  that  in  any  instance,  they  are  ex- 
cessive or  disproportionately  burdensome  on  any  section  of  the 
Union,  for  one,  /  arn  ready  to  vote  for  their  reduction  or  modi- 
fication." Here  we  have  a  pledge,  and  one  which  cannot  be 
departed  from  ;  and  as  we  do  know  that  documents  are  in  a 
train  of  exhibition  to  Congress,  which  will  prove  most  conclu- 
sively that  the  duties  on  cotton  and  woollen  goods,  iron,  hemp, 
and  various  other  articles,  are  excessive,  we  are  gratified  to 
have  the  assurance  of  Mr.  Clay's  support  in  their  reduction. 

As  to  the  necessity  of  a  rigid  enforcement  of  the  revenue 
laws,  urged  by  Mr.  Clay,  no  one  will  dispute  the  propriety  of 
their  being  so  enforced — but  many  doubt  the  possibility  of  it. 
In  our  humble  estimation,  it  is  just  as  impossible  to  prevent  the 
smuggling  in  a  country  like  ours,  so  accessible  by  land  and  wa- 
ter, under  exhorbitant  duties,  as  it  was  for  Spain  to  prevent  the 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  401 

exportation  of  dollars,  by  the  enactment  of  penal  laws.  Smug- 
gling is,  at  this  moment,  a  more  profitable  branch  of  "  Ameri- 
can industry"  than  lawful  commerce,  and  every  day  new 
modes  arc  discovered,  and  new  temptations  held  out  to  men  of 
doubtful  consciences.  There  is  no  possible  mode  of  having  re- 
venue laws  faithfully  executed  but  by  removing  the  tempta- 
tions to  smuggling  and  fraud. 

The  plan  suggested,  of  reducing  the  credit  on  duties,  we 
think,  might  be  advantageously  adopted.  The  long  credits 
now  given,  under  such  exhorbitant  duties  as  those  which  exist 
upon  various  articles,  furnish  large  capitals  to  many  merchants 
who  find  the  American  System  exceedingly  convenient.  To 
this  circumstance  may  be  ascribed  no  small  share  of  the  indif- 
ference to  the  existence  of  high  duties,  which  is  known  to 
prevail  in  some  of  our  commercial  cities;  and  we  are  opposed 
to  all  measures  of  policy,  the  tendency  of  which  is  to  strengthen 
the  Tariff  Party.  Mr.  Clay  could  not  do  a  more  unwise  thing 
for  the  manufacturers,  than  reduce  the  credits  on  duties.  Such 
a  course  would  drive  to  the  Free  Trade  side  hundreds  of  mer- 
chants who  are  now  excellent  tariff  men,  and  who  would  re- 
gard a  reduction  of  the  term  of  credit  as  injurious  to  them  as 
a  reduction  of  the  duties  themselves. 

Our  neighbour  of  the  National  Gazette,  in  speaking  of  this 
speech  of  Mr.  Clay,  says,  "  It  is  distinguished  by  comprehen- 
sive political  wisdom."  We  should  like  to  know  whether  llie 
following  expression  is  thus  distinguished : 

"  Whatever  may  be  the  qualifications  to  which  the  theory  of 
the  balance  of  trade  may  be  liable,  it  may  be  safely  affirmed, 
that  when  the  aggregate  of  the  importations  from  all  foreign 
countries  exceeds  the  aggregate  of  the  exportations  to  all  for- 
eign countries  considerably,  the  unfavourable  balance  must  be 
made  up  by  a  remittance  of  the  precious  metals  to  some  extent. 
Accordingly,  we  find  the  existence  of  the  other  fact  to  which  I 
allude,  the  high  price  of  bills  of  exchange  on  England." 

Now  we  really  had  thought  that  the  doctrine  of  exchange 
was  so  well  understood,  that  no  individual,  supposed  to  be  dis- 
tinguished for  "  political  wisdom,"  could  have  ventured,  at  this 
enhghtened  day,  to  ascribe  the  high  price  of  bills  of  excl*mge 
upon  England  to  the  balance  of  trade.  Why,  even  the  p/iiloso- 
phers  of  the  restrictive  school  have  given  up  that  argument, 
and  for  the  last  two  years  have  admitted  that  the  true  par  of 
exchange  on  England  was  a  nominal  premium  of  8  per  cent. 

Mr.  Clay  considers  "a  gradual  reduction  of  duties"  as  "a 
slow,  but  certain  poison."  If  that  be  the  case,  he  and  his 
friends  will  not  relish  the  proposition  of  Mr.  Hayne,  which  is 
to  reduce  the  duties  gradually.  It  is  well,  however,  to  be  re- 
marked here,  that  the  policy  of  a  gradual  reduction  is  not  a 
sine  qua  von  with  the  friends  of  Free  Trade.  If  our  opponents 
2L* 


402  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

prefer  an  immediate  reduction,  we  certainly  shall  not  object  to 
it ;  and  we  have  always  considered  it  as  a  cession  upon  our 
part,  although  it  seems  not  to  be  so  considered  by  Mr.  Clay. 

In  reference  to  the  lion.  vSenator's  project  of  increasing  the 
duties  upon  foreign  distilled  spirits,  we  enter  a  decided  protest 
against  it,  not  merely  on  account  of  its  hostile  bearing  upon 
foreign  commerce,  but  also  on  account  of  its  injurious  influence 
upon  agriculture  and  public  morals.  Every  gallon  of  spirits 
imported  into  this  country  from  the  West  Indies,  is  as  much  the 
direct  product  of  corn,  and  wheat,  and  other  agricultural  pro- 
ductions, as  whiskey  is  the  product  of  corn,  rye,  and  potatoes. 
For  every  gallon  of  West  India  rum  prohibited  by  a  duty,  there 
is  the  loss  of  the  sale  of  an  equal  value  of  agricultural  produce; 
and  the  same  is  true  of  brandy  and  Holland  gin,  although  the 
exchange  may  not  appear  to  be  so  direct.  In  regard  to  public 
morals,  an  increase  in  the  price  of  foreign  liquors  has  the  cer- 
tain eflect  of  driving  their  consumers  to  whiskey ;  and  when 
once  the  taste  for  liquor  becomes  so  vitiated  that  it  cannot  dis- 
cover the  difference  between  cognac  brandy  and  new  whiskey 
just  out  of  the  still,  the  inevitable  consequence  is  an  increase  of 
quantity.  We  have  no  doubt  that  the  vast  extent  of  intempe- 
rance which  prevails  throughout  the  country  is,  in  a  great  de- 
gree, to  be  traced  to  high  duties  upon  foreign  liquors  and 
wines ;  and  if  we  wished  to  frustrate  the  benevolent  exertions 
of  the  Temperance  Societies,  we  would  advocate  Mr.  Clay's 
policy.  If  this  be  a  part  of  the  "  political  wisdom"  for  which 
this  speech  is  distinguished,  we  do  not  envy  its  author  the  re- 
putation it  will  give  him. 

Nor  do  we  see  much  political  wisdom  in  the  following  ques- 
tion, proposed  by  the  Hon.  Senator :  "  Is  it  material  to  the 
consumer,  wherever  situated,  whether  the  collection  be  made 
upon  a  few  or  many  objects,  provided,  whatever  be  the  mode, 
the  amount  of  his  contribution  to  the  public  .exchequer  remains 
the  same  V  Its  want  of  wisdom  consists  in  its  want  of  fair- 
ness. It  is  not  putting  the  question,  now  at  issue  before  the 
people,  in  its  true  shape.  The  question  is  this  :  If  the  public 
revenue  be  reduced  to  the  sum  required  for  the  support  of  go- 
vernment, is  it  material  whether  it  be  raised  upon  all  necessa- 
ries and  all  luxuries,  or  whether  luxuries  shall  be  exempt  from 
taxation,  and  some  of  the  necessaries  of  life  alone  be  saddled 
with  the  whole  expenses  of  supporting  government — and  this, 
not  by  an  equitable  ratio  of  ad  valorem  duties,  but  by  a  system 
of  discriminating  duties,  intended  still  further  to  oppress  the 
poor  and  labouring  classes,  by  making  them  pay  more  than  their 
fair  share  ?  This  is  the  question,  properly  stated,  and  thus 
stated,  we  would  willingly  abide  by  the  answer  that  would  be 
given  to  it  by  nine  out  of  ten  of  the  community.  How  any 
gentleman  can  associate  such  views  as  this  with  the  idea  of 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  403 

conciliation,  we  are  at  a  loss  to  imagine;  and  if  wc  should 
be  asked  what  we  should  consider  an  overture  of  conciliation, 
\\e  would  reply.  Nothing  short  of  an  abandonment  of  the  mi- 
nimum system,  and  a  reduction  of  all  the  high  duties,  whether 
U|  on  the  protected  or  unprotected  articles. 


ESSAY    No.  C  X  X  I  I. 


FEBRUARY  22,    1833. 


National  Independence  ;  true  nature  of.  The  mutual  depend- 
ence of  nations  upon  each  other,  resulting  from  commerce, 
dishonourable  to  neither. 

THERE  is  no  subject  to  which  the  sensibilities  of  the  Ame- 
rican people  are  more  alive,  than  that  of  their  National  Inde- 
pendence. The  recollection  of  our  former  state,  and  of  the 
impositions  practised  upon  us  by  the  mother  country  whilst  we 
were  dependent  colonies,  still  clings  to  the  bosom  of  the  patriot, 
and  nothing  is  more  revolting  to  him  than  the  idea  of  being  de- 
pendent upon  a  foreign  nation  for  any  of  the  blessings  he  en- 
joys. So  far  as  this  feeling  originates  in  a  love  o{  political  in- 
dependence, so  far  it  is  a  noble  and  high-minded  sentiment. 
No  man  amongst  us  would  consent  to  receive  the  laws  from  a 
foreign  land,  or  to  be  subject  to  the  mandates  and  government 
of  a  foreign  power.  But,  whilst  this  is  the  case,  let  us  be  cau- 
tious not  to  suffer  this  glorious  term  to  be  perverted,  and  to  be 
employed  as  an  instrument  to  decoy  us  into  national  folly.  Let 
us  not  imagine,  that  to  be  independent  of  a  foreign  country,  re- 
quires us  to  renounce  the  opportunity  we  may  enjoy  of  pro- 
moting the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  our  own  country,  by 
commercial  intercourse.  liCt  us  not  delude  ourselves  into  the 
belief,  that  because  we  will  not  submit  to  the  yoke  of  a  foreign 
government,  we  are  bound  to  reject  the  favours  which  her  peo- 
ple are  willing  to  confer  upon  us.  Let  us  not,  because  we  do 
not  choose  the  king  of  England  to  reign  over  us,  commit  the 
folly  of  refusing  to  sell  his  subjects  our  cotton,  if  they  will  give 
us  more  things  for  it,  that  we  want,  than  any  body  else.  And 
yet  this  is  the  sort  of  conduct  which  is  preached  up,  by  cer- 
tain modern  philosophers,  as  constituting  independence.  Away 
with  such  absurdity,  fit  only  to  cajole  idiots. 

What  would  be  thought  of  a  man,  in  our  community,  who 
should  be  so  independent  in  his  spirit  that  he  could  not  brook 
the  idea  of  being  dependent  upon  any  body  else  for  the  supply 
of  any  of  his  wants  ?    He  would  have  to  be  his  own  tailor, 


404  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

shoe-maker,  and  hatter — his  own  baker  and  butcher ;  and,  by- 
undertaking  to  supply  all  his  wants  himself,  he  would  not  be 
half  so  well  off  as  his  neighbours  who  should  be  so  poor-sj)irited 
as  to  consent  to  be  dependent  upon  other  people.  Now,  where 
is  the  difference  between  the  case  of  an  individual  and  a  na- 
tion ?  We  challenge  the  production  of  the  shadow  of  a  differ- 
ence. In  truth,  the  error  consists,  in  both  cases,  in  represent- 
mg  that  as  a  dependence  on  one  side,  which  is,  in  reality,  a 
mutual  dependence.  There  is  no  one-sided  dependence  between 
two  people  or  nations  who  exchange  equal  values.  Commer- 
cial intercourse  can  only  lead  to  mutual  dependence.  Is  the 
farmer,  who  sells  his  grain  to  the  merchant,  willing  to  admit 
that  he  is  dependent  upon  the  latter,  any  more  than  the  mer- 
chant is  dependent  upon //m?  Is  the  mechanic,  who  labours 
for  his  employer,  prepared  to  say  that  he  alone,  of  the  two, 
is  dependent  ?  Is  the  man  who  employs  a  lawyer,  any 
more  dependent  upon  him  than  the  lawyer  is  dependent 
upon  the  man  who  gives  the  fee?  We  think  no  one  will  an- 
swer in  the  affirmative.  Then  let  the  difference  be  point- 
ed out  between  those  cases  and  that  of  the  mutual  depend- 
ence which  exists  between  nations.  Are  not  the  West  Indies 
as  much  dependent  upon  us  for  our  flour,  corn  meal,  beef,  pork, 
butter,  and  lard,  as  we  are  dependent  upon  them  for  sugar, 
molasses,  and  spirits  ?  Is  not  France  as  much  dependent  upon 
us  for  cotton,  rice,  and  tobacco,  as  we  are  upon  her  for  wines, 
silks,  and  fancy  goods  ?  Is  not  Great  Britain  as  much  depend- 
ent upon  us  for  cotton,  as  we  are  upon  her  for  woollen  goods 
and  ironmongery  ?  Why  then  is  it  said  that  dealing  with  fo- 
reign countries  is  discreditable  to  us?  If  so,  it  is  ecjually  dis- 
creditable to  them. 

But,  in  truth,  there  is  nothing  discreditable  about  it,  any  more 
than  there  is  in  a  larmer's  selling  his  wheat  for  the  most  he  can 
get,  and  buying  with  the  proceeds  as  many  store  goods  as  the 
merchant  will  give  him.  This  mutual  dependence  is  a  part  of 
the  design  of  the  Creator,  in  the  constitution  of  the  human 
race.  Man  is  born  a  dependent  being ;  he  is  brought  up  a  de- 
pendent being  ;  and,  unless  he  becomes  a  hermit,  he  continues 
all  his  life  a  dependent  being.  And  this  very  dependence  it  is 
which  lies  at  the  bottom  of  all  parental,  fdial,  and  conjugal 
ties.  Without  it,  man  would  be  immersed  in  selfish  passions; 
would  care  for  nobody;  would  respect  nobody;  would  love 
nobody ;  and  would  be  less  social  than  the  brutes,  whose  mu- 
tual dependence  leads  them  to  congregate  for  mutual  safety. 
Of  the  truth  of  this  position  we  conceive  every  individual  has 
evidence  within  his  own  breast.  And,  that  the  same  mutual 
dependence  is  designed,  by  the  same  Creator,  to  be  extended  to 
nations,  is  manifest  from  the  facilities  to  intercourse  which  liav.c 
been  conferred  upon  man  by  the  science  of  navigation,  from 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  405 

the  variety  of  soils  and  climates  with  which  the  earth  has  been 
enriched,  and  from  the  multiplicity  of  products  peculiar  to 
these.  Had  a  mutual  dependence  between  nations  never  been 
designed,  it  is  quite  probable  that  the  quadrant  and  compass 
would  never  have  been  invented,  or  that  the  law  of  propelling 
forces  would  never  have  been  so  modified  as  to  enable  a  ship 
to  make  way  against  an  opposing  wind. 

Some  people  may,  perhaps,  reply,  that  the  facility  of  inter- 
course between  nations  is  only  designed  to  enable  each  to  pro- 
cure from  the  others  commodities  which  it  cannot  itself  produce. 
But  even  here  there  would  be  established  a  mutual  dependence, 
no  less  discreditable  than  any  other ;  for,  after  all,  it  is  only  for 
articles  of  comfort  or  luxury  that  nations  are  mutually  depend- 
ent upon  one  another.  For  the  actual  necessaries  of  life,  no  na- 
tion ever  has  been,  or  ever  can  be,  dependent  upon  a  foreign 
country.  The  bulk  of  the  food  necessary  for  the  support  of 
men  and  cattle,  and  of  the  materials  necessary  for  the  clothing 
and  fuel  of  the  former,  is  too  great  to  bear  the  expenses  of  a  dis- 
tant transportation  ;  and  hence  we  find  that  there  is  not  a  coun- 
try on  the  face  of  the  globe  that  does  not  produce  the  ordinary 
food  and  materials  for  clothing  its  population.  In  some  coun- 
tries, the  bread  of  the  people  is  wheat,  rye,  or  corn  ;  in  others 
it  is  rice  ;  in  others  fruits ;  in  others  the  mandioca  root.  This 
last  substance  furnishes  the  bread  of  four  millions  of  people  in 
Brazil — a  few  only  of  whom  are  acquainted  with  wheat-flour, 
and  with  that  only  as  a  luxury.  In  some  countries  the  ordina- 
ry clothing  is  of  wool ;  in  others  of  cotton ;  in  others  of  flax 
or  hemp ;  in  others  of  skins ;  and  in  others  of  the  bark  of  trees 
— and  there  is  no  nation  that  ever  has  imported  any  very  ma- 
terial portion  of  its  clothing.  Notwithstanding  all  the  clamour 
about  foreign  dependence,  the  United  States  has  never,  in  any 
one  year,  exclusive  of  fine  and  high-priced  goods,  imported  an 
amount  of  cotton  and  woollen  clothing  sufticient  to  cover  one- 
twentieth  part  of  her  population  ;  and  it  is  very  doubtful  whe- 
ther she  would  import  a  quantity  equal  to  a  tenth  of  the  con- 
sumption of  the  country  if  all  duties  were  abolished — and  for 
the  simple  reason,  that  the  Jiousehold  manufactures  of  the  farm- 
ers, which  have  always  prospered  without  protecting  duties, 
can,  as  they  always  have  done,  carry  on  a  successful  compe- 
tition, in  the  home-market,  with  foreign  goods. 

We  trust  that,  in  the  foregoing  remarks,  we  have  shown 
that,  whilst  a  love  of  political  independence  is  a  commendable 
virtue  in  every  patriot,  a  desire  for  commercial  independence 
is  a  selfish,  misanthropic,  and  anti-Christian  passion,  at  vari- 
ance with  the  dictates  of  common  sense,  and  at  war  with  the 
true  interests,  happiness,  and  prosperity  of  a  country. 


406  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 


ESSAY    No.    CXXIII. 

MARCH  14,  lt31. 

The  Vested  Interests  of  the  few  not  to  he  upheld  by  the  sacrifice 
of  the  interests  of  the  many ;  this  position  sustained  by  re- 
ference to  many  well  known  cases. 

IN  a  monarchical  or  aristocratical  government,  where  the 
few  rule  the  many,  and  where  the  interests  of  the  many  are 
sacrificed  to  promote  the  interests  of  the  few,  there  may  be 
vested  interests,  for  the  protection  of  which  all  other  interests 
are  made  subservient.  In  a  popular  government,  however,  in- 
stituted for  the  equal  benefit  and  protection  of  all,  there  can  be 
no  special  interest,  vested  in  any  conceivable  manner,  for  the 
advancement  of  which  all  others  must  be  sacrificed.  The 
march  of  intellect  which  has  been  exhibited  with  such  rapid 
strides  for  the  last  half  century,  has  been  nothing  but  one  per- 
petual overthrow  of  vested  interests ;  which,  although  not  so 
visible  to  our  bodily  senses  as  some  other  works  of  demolition, 
is  not  less  real ;  and  nature  herself,  in  this  mighty  work,  cries 
out,  "  The  vested  interests  of  the  few  are  not  to  be  protected  at 
the  cost  of  the  many."  What  has  become  of  the  vested  in- 
terests in  distaffs  ?  Swept  away  by  the  spinning-wheels.  What 
has  become  of  the  vested  interests  in  spinning-wheels  ?  Destroy- 
ed by  the  inventions  of  Ark  wright — and  these  again  by  others  fol- 
io wing  one  another  in  rapid  succession,  down  to  the  most  improv- 
ed machinery  in  Statist's  factory,  near  Boston,  who  is  as  far  ahead 
of  some  of  his  fellow-manufacturers,  in  the  perfection  of  his 
works,  according  to  what  we  have  heard,  as  these  again  are 
ahead  of  the  machinery  of  five  years  back.  Look,  too,  at  the 
steamboats.  What  has  become  of  the  vested  interests  in  shallops 
and  sloops,  that  formerly  plied  upon  the  Chesapeake,  the  De- 
laware, the  Hudson,  and  the  Sound,  for  the  conveyance  of  pas- 
sentrers?  What  has  become  of  the  vested  interests  in  stages 
and  horses,  where  land  travelling  has  been  broken  up  by  water 
conveyance  ?  Look  at  the  interests  vested  in  turnpike-roads, 
swallowed  up  and  rendered  valueless  by  canals ;  and  then  cast 
an  eye  into  futurity,  and  see  these  canals  again  all  devoured  by 
rail-roads.  The  vested  interests  in  wheel-barrows  have  been 
sacrificed  by  carts  and  wagons.  Cast  your  eyes  to  the  river 
Schuylkill' — where  are  the  interests  vested  in  the  former  water- 
works— in  the  basin  at  the  end  of  Chestnut  Street — in  the  large 
building  in  which  the  water  was  first  raised,  at  the  corner  of 
Schuylkill  Front  Street — in  the  huge  tunnel  which  conveyed 
the  water  to  the  Centre  Square — and  in  the  marble  edifice  in 
which  it  was  raised  to  its  proper  elevation  for  distribution  ?  All 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  407 

swept  away  by  the  new  works  at  Fainnount.  Where  are  the 
interests  vested  in  the  ten  miles  of  wooden  pi[)es,  which  former- 
ly conveyed  the  water  through  the  city  ?  Destroyed,  to  make 
room  for  the  present  iron  pipes.  In  fine,  look  where  we  will, 
we  see  every  where  a  constant  succession  of  improvements. 
And  why  have  these  improvements  been  resorted  to,  at  such 
a  great  sacrifice  of  vested  interests  ?  Because  it  was  more  ad- 
vantageous for  the  public  that  the  new  improvements  should 
be  introduced,  even  at  the  cost  of  annihilating  the  existing  vest- 
ed interests,  than  that  they  should  not  have  been  introduced.  It 
is  for  the  same  reason  that  Pennsylvania,  having  two  stone- 
turnpike  roads  to  Pittsburg,  (built  at  a  cost,  to  individuals  and 
the  state,  of  at  least  five  millions  of  dollars,)  has  undertaken  a 
canal  which  will  almost  entirely  render  the  road  valueless.  It  is 
for  the  same  reasons  that  a  company  is  about  now  undertaking  a 
rail-road  from  Albany  to  Buffalo,  over  a  tract  of  country  oc- 
cupied by  a  canal  which  is  capable  of  transporting  to  market  all 
the  produce  which  is  likel}^  to  ofl'er  for  these  twenty  years  to 
come.  It  is  for  the  same  reason,  that  a  man  who  has  nothing 
but  a  hatchet  to  chop  wood  with,  buys  an  axe,  which  renders 
his  hatchet  of  no  use  in  felling  a  tree. 

In  all  these  cases  where  existing  iri/erests  have  been  sacri- 
ficed, the  question  has  been  simply  this  :  By  these  improve- 
ments, will  all  the  annual  gains  be  greater  than  all  the  annual 
losses  ?  This  is  the  only  possible  rule  for  determining  a  matter 
of  this  sort.  And  the  question  is  not  one  v.  hit  different,  whe- 
ther the  object  to  be  obtained  be  cheap  travelling,  cheap  wa- 
ter, cheap  transportation,  cheap  clothing,  cheap  sugar,  cheap 
iron.  Where  a  Restrictive  System  exists,  Free  Trade  is  precise- 
ly like  the  invention  of  some  new  machine  to  cheapen  produc- 
tion. It  is  a  great  labour-saving  machine.  Its  operation  is  pre- 
cisely the  same  as  if  a  machine  were  invented  by  which  one 
man  could  do  the  work  of  two.  To  reject  Free  Trade,  then, 
on  account  of  its  influence  on  the  vested  interests  of  manufac- 
turers, would  be  precisely  the  same  as  if  such  an  improvement 
as  we  have  described  were  to  be  rejected,  for  fear  of  the  inju- 
ry which  would  be  done  to  the  owners  of  less  perfect  machine- 
ry, or  as  if  the  Philadelphia  Councils  had  rejected  the  new- 
water-works  and  iron  pipes,  because  their  adoption  would  en- 
tirely destroy  the  value  of  the  old  water-works  and  wooden 
pipes. 

It  is,  no  doubt,  unpleasant  to  see  the  prosperity  of  one's 
neijchbours  disturbed.  When  the  fashion  to  wear  wigs  was  aban- 
doned,  it  was  no  doubt  a  painful  reflection  to  see  the  vested  in- 
terests of  wig-makers,  in  wig-blocks,  &c.,  sacrificed  ;  but  who 
would  say  that  people  should  continue  to  wear  wigs,  if  they 
did  not  like  it,  for  the  sake  of  the  wig-makers  I  In  a  country 
like  this,  where  the  laws  are  made  and  unmade  at  the  popular 


408  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

will,  it  is  preposterous  to  talk  of  vested  rights  in  a  monopoly. 
The  only  vested  rights  are,  the  rights  of  freedom  of  employ- 
ment and  of  protection  against  fraud  and  violence ;  and  every 
man  who  embarks  in  any  particular  pursuit,  does  it  at  his  own 
risk.  Those  who  choose  to  hazard  their  property,  by  staking 
it  upon  an  artificial  system,  founded  in  injustice  and  wrong, 
have  no  right  to  complain,  if,  when  those  who  have  been 
wronged  resume  their  rights,  they  should  lose  what  they  chose 
to  hazard  in  a  run  for  luck,  as  some  of  the  Bostonians  call  their 
speculations  in  manufacturing  stock. 


ESSAY    No.    CXXIV. 

APRIL    11,  1832. 


The  Flour  Trade  of  the  United  States.     Quantity  shipped  to 
Great  Britain  and  her  colonies. 

EVERY  body  who  has  watched  the  gradual  crumbling 
away  of  the  pillars  of  the  American  System,  must  have  seen 
that,  shortly,  it  would  be  left  without  a  support  sufficient  to  sus- 
tain it.  The  doctrine  of  the  balance  of  trade — the  high  nomi- 
nal rate  of  exchange — the  exportation  of  specie — and  the  great 
fall  in  the  prices  of  goods  between  1816  and  1831 — were  at 
one  time  relied  upon  as  the  main  supporters  of  the  rickety  fa- 
bric. These  have,  however,  all  been  swept  away  by  the  power 
of  truth,  leaving  but  a  few  more  columns  to  share  the  same 
fate.  One  of  these  was  the  dearly  cherished  doctrine  that  fo- 
reign nations  would  not  take  our  agricultural  productions  in 
exchange  for  their  manufactures.  In  vain  was  it  urged  that 
Great  Britain  purchased  of  us  cotton,  tobacco,  rice,  naval  stores, 
and  other  articles,  equal  in  value  to  from  twenty  to  twenty-five 
millions  of  dollars  per  annum,  and  that  she  was  willing  to  take 
to  a  much  larger  amount  if  we  would  take  more  of  her  manu- 
factures. All  this  amounted  to  nothing:  "  Sheivillnot  take  our 
Jlour,"  was  the  constant  cry,  and  this  was  sufficient  to  satisfy 
all  the  non-thinkers  of  the  Middle  states,  who  had  not  brains 
enough  to  see,  that,  by  the  export  of  Southern  staples,  they 
were  able  to  sell  to  the  Southern  people  more  flour. 

Happily,  however,  for  the  cause  of  Free  Trade,  this  argu- 
ment is  taken  out  of  the  mouths  of  the  restrictionists  by  the 
commercial  operations  of  the  last  year.  It  is  shown  by  the 
Treasury  documents,  that  the  quantity  of  flour  exported  during 
the  year  ending  on  the  30th  September,  1831,  to  "  Great  Bri- 
tain and  Ireland,"  was  879,430  barrels,  which  was  greater  than 
the  total  export  of  flour  from  the  United  States  to  all  parts  of 


OF    FREE     TRADE. 


409 


the  u'orld,  in  any  one  of  the  eight  years  between  1821  and 
1830,  with  the  single  exception  of  the  year  1824,  when  the 
number  exported  was  996,792. 

The  fact  is,  that  ever  since  the  modification  of  the  British 
Corn-Laws,  in  July  1828,  by  which  flour  and  grain  have  been 
admitted,  at  all  times,  under  far  less  duties  than  ice  impose  upon 
some  British  iron,  and  cotton,  and  ivoollen  goods,  our  exports  of 
those  articles  have  been  gradually  increasing,  and,  in  the  natu- 
ral course  of  things,  they  must  go  on  increasing.  But  to  the 
proof,  which  will  be  found  in  the  following 

Table,  showing  the  Exports  of  Flour  from  the  United  States, 
in  the  following  years. 


Years. 

ToGreut  Britain 

To  all  other  parts 

Total  Exports. 

and  Ireland. 

of  the  world. 

1822 

12,096 

815,769 

827,865 

1823 

4,252 

852,450 

756,702 

1824 

70,873 

925,919 

996,792 

1825 

27,272 

786,634 

813,906 

1826 

18,357 

839,463 

857.820 

1827 

53,129 

812,362 

865,491 

1828 

23,258 

837,551 

860,809 

1829 

221,176 

616,209 

837,385 

1830 

326,182 

899,699 

1,225,881 

1831 

879,430 

925,775 

1,805,205 

In  the  year  1831,  there  were  exported  to  the  British  North 
American  provinces,  150,645  barrels  of  flour ;  of  which  it  is 
highly  probable  that  nearly  the  whole  were  re-exported  to  Eng- 
land, under  the  very  low  colonial  duty,  or,  what  is  the  same 
thing,  were  consumed  in  the  provinces,  in  place  of  an  equal 
number  of  barrels  of  colonial  flour  spared  from  the  consump- 
tion, owing  to  the  American  supply  brought  into  Canada  free 
of  duty.  It  may  therefore  fairly  be  assumed,  that  Great  Bri- 
tain took  from  the  United  States,  in  the  year  1831,  upwards  of 
one  million  of  barrels  of  flour,  besides  a  large  quantity/  of  grain 
— which  is  more  than  one-half  of  the  total  exports  to  all  other 
parts  of  the  world.  Shall  we  be  told,  after  this,  that  a  nation 
which,  in  1829  and  1830,  took  one-fourth  of  the  whole  quantity 
of  flour  exported,  and,  in  1831,  one-half  refuses  to  take  our 
flour?  A  further  adherence  to  this  position  cannot  be  honestlu 
maintained. 

2M 


410  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 


ESSAY   No.   CXXV. 

MAY  2,  1832. 

The  Cotton  viamifacturc.  Statistics  of,  in  the  United 
States,  as  published  hy  the  New  York  Tariff  Conven- 
tion.     Tax  imposed  for  t/ie  support  of,  upon  consumers. 

ONE  great  benefit  conferred  upon  the  public  by  the  Tariff 
Convention  at  New  York,  last  October,  was  the  adoption  of 
measures  for  the  collection  of  statistical  details,  which  were 
very  much  needed  by  the  Free  Trade  party,  as  documents 
best  adapted  to  demonstrate  the  absurdity  of  the  Restrictive 
System.  In  pointing  out  the  operation  of  the  duty  on  cotton 
goods,  as  we  have  frequently  done  in  this  journal,  we  were 
obliged  to  assume  data,  arrived  at  by  a  process  of  reasoning. 
to  argue  upon,  and  we  always  knew  that  an  argument  which 
was  not  founded  upon  positions  admitted  by  the  opposite 
party,  was  not  as  powerful  as  one  where  the  positions  were 
admitted.  The  necessity,  however,  of  arguing  in  the  dark 
upon  the  subject  of  the  cotton  manufacture,  is  now  obviated, 
and  we  shall  henceforth  assume  as  correct,  the  following 
statement,  condensed  by  the  "  New  York  American  Advo- 
cate," from  the  materials  furnished  by  the  Convention,  until 
we  are  advised  that  a  more  authentic  one  exists : 

"  CoTToy  Manufactures. — Summary  of  the  results  of  the 
present  state  of  the  Cotton  manufacture  in  the  United  States : 
Capital  employed         ....  $44,914,988 

Number  of  mills  ....  .         .     795 

Number  of  spindles 1,246,503 

Number  of  looms         -         -         .         .  .         33,506 

Pounds  of  yarn  sold 10,642,000 

Yards  of  cloth  ....  230,461,990 

Pounds  of  cloth 58,604,726 

Males  employed 18,539 

Females  employed 38,927 

Pounds  of  cotton  used  ....  77,557,316 

Pounds  of  starch 1,641,253 

Barrels  of  flour  for  sizeing  ....  17,245 

Cords  of  wood  .....  46,519 

Tons  of  coal  24,420 

Gallons  of  oil  9,205 

Value  of  other  articles        ....     $599,333 

Spindles  building 172,024 

Hand  weavers             .....  4,761 

Total  dependants 117,626 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  411 

Annual  value  ....  $20,000,000 

Aggregate  wages.       -----    10,504,944 
Cotton  consumed  77,557,031  pounds,  is  214,882  bales,  of  the 
average  of  361  86.100  pounds." 

From  the  foregoing  statement  it  appears,  that  the  number  of 
yards  of  cotton  cloth  manufactured  in  the  United  States  is 
230,461,990.  This  immense  production,  we  are  told,  owes  its 
existence  to  a  Protecting  Tariff,  and  that  if  the  existing  duty- 
were  to  be  greatly  reduced,  the  manufacture  would  be  totally 
destroyed.  If  there  be  any  truth  or  meaning  in  this  declara- 
tion, it  amounts  to  this,  that  by  means  of  the  Tariff,  the  ma- 
nufacturers of  cotton  cloth  are  enabled  to  get  a  higher  price 
for  it  than  they  could  get  if  there  was  no  duty.  The  extent  of 
this  augmented  price  is  not,  however,  mentioned ;  but,  be  it 
what  it  may,  it  constitutes  the  precise  tax  which  the  people  of 
the  United  States  pay  for  the  support  of  the  cotton  manufac- 
ture. The  present  duty  on  cotton  cloth  of  the  kind  manufac- 
tured in  this  country  is  8|  cents  per  square  yard,  which  is  6^ 
cents  per  running  yard  of  the  usual  width  of  three  quarters. 
Now  if  the  whole  of  this  duty  were  requisite  to  sustain  the 
manufacture,  the  tax  would  be  6|  cents  per  yard ;  but  such  is 
not  the  case.  It  is  only  on  the  finer  qualities,  and  on  prints 
and  calicoes,  which  sell  for  about  18  to  20  cents  per  yard,  that 
the  whole  of  this  duty  is  necessary  for  preventing  the  foreign 
competition.  Upon  the  coarsest  qualities  a  duty  of  three  cents 
would  be  sufficient ;  but,  as  we  wish  to  be  liberal  in  our 
allowances,  we  are  willing  to  assume  three  cents  per  yard, 
upon  an  average,  as  the  extent  of  the  tax  imposed  upon  the 
nation  for  the  support  of  the  cotton  manufacture,  which,  upon 
the  quantity  stated,  would  amount  to  $6,913,859.  That  this 
amount  is  not  overrated,  we  are  most  thoroughly  convinced ; 
and,  if  we  add  to  it  the  tax  paid  for  the  yarns,  amounting  to 
10,642,000  pounds,  which  are  charged  with  a  duty  of  15  cents 
per  pound,  but  which  we  shall  only  estimate  at  6  cents  per  lb., 
amounting  to  $  638,520,  we  shall  have  a  gross  sum  of  upwards 
of  $7,500,000,  paid  for  the  support  of  the  cotton  manufacture, 
by  the  consimicrs  of  cotton  goods,  over  and  above  the  full  vahie 
of  the  articles.  If  any  body  doubts  the  correctness  of  this  es- 
timate, he  can  convince  himself  by  asking  the  first  cotton  ma- 
nufacturer he  meets  whether  he  will  put  his  name  to  a  decla- 
ration of  his  willingness  to  reduce  the  duty  below  3  cents  per 
yard  upon  any  one  quality  which  he  manufactures. 

Having  thus  demonstrated,  from  the  statistical  facts  furnish- 
ed by  the  manufacturers  themselves,  that  the  nation  pays  them 
a  clear  bounty,  without  any  equivalent,  of  upwards  of  $7,500,- 
000  per  annum,  we  are,  nevertheless,  disposed  to  pursue  our 
argument  upon  the  most  liberal  basis,  and  will,  therefore,  as- 


412  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

sume  the  bounty  on  cotton  cloth  to  be  only  two  cents  per  yard, 
and  that  upon  yarn  to  be  on\y  four  cents  per  pound.  We  shall 
then  have  $5,000,000  as  the  bonus  paid  to  the  manufacturers, 
over  and  above  thefiiR  value  of  the  ir  goods. 

Let  us  now  examine  another  point. 

By  the  foregoing  statement  it  appears,  that  the  number  of 
persons  employed,  in  the  United  States,  in  the  cotton  manufac- 
ture, is,  males,  18,539,  females,  38,927,  hand-weavers,  4,761 — 
making  a  total  of  02,227.  It  is  not  stated  what  number  of 
each  sex  are  grown  persons,  and  what  number  are  children — 
but  every  body  knows  that  a  very  large  portion  of  them  are 
children.  Now  if  five  millions  of  dollars  are  contributed  by 
the  people  of  the  United  States  towards  the  support  of  62,227 
persons,  besides  paying  their  employers  the  full  value  of  the 
articles  they  manufacture,  the  amount  is  precisely  $80  and  a 
fraction  per  head,  as  any  one  may  see,  who  will  take  the  trou- 
ble to  make  the  calculation. 

Eighty  dollars  a  piece,  per  annum,  is  a  sum  amply  sufficient 
to  maintain  all  the  operatives,  young  and  old,  who  are  employ- 
ed in  the  cotton  manufacture ;  and  it  is,  therefore,  manifest, 
that  the  benefit  which  the  community  derives  from  the  labour  of 
the  whole  manufacturing  community  is  not  one  sixpence  more 
than  it  would  be  if  these  sixty-two  thousand  and  odd  persons 
were  employed  in  turning  grindstones,  and  if  the  consumers  of 
cotton  goods  were  at  liberty  to  buy  their  goods  where  they 
could  get  them  cheapest.  It  would,  therefore,  be  better  for 
the  public,  to  enter  into  a  contract  with  the  owners  of  the  cot- 
ton factories,  to  allow  each  of  their  operatives  a  pension,  for 
standing  idle,  of  $40  per  annum,  the  amount  which  Pennsyl- 
vania allows  to  old  soldiers,  which  would  be  equal  to  $2,500,- 
000,  if  they  would,  in  consideration  thereof,  shut  up  their  fac- 
tories. 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  thought,  that  the  owners  of  factories 
would  not  agree  to  this,  unless  some  compensation  were  also 
made  to  them  for  the  interest  on  their  capitals.  Very  well — 
let  us  examine  and  see  what  we  could  afford  to  do  towards 
buying  them  up. 

We  are  told  by  the  above  statement,  that  the  capital  em- 
ployed in  the  cotton  manufacture  in  the  United  States  is 
$44,914,988.  This  of  course  includes  the  cost  of  buildings,  ma- 
chinery, lands,  and  water-power,  and  the  funds  invested  in 
raw  materials,  goods  on  hand,  outstanding  debts,  and  money 
in  hand  to  pay  wages.  What  proportion  of  this  amount  is 
fixed  capital,  which  cannot  well  be  applied  to  other  pursuits,  is 
not  stated,  but,  as  we  are  told  that  the  whole  number  of  cotton 
mills  is  795,  and  these  have  probably  not  cost,  upon  an  ave- 
rage, with  all  their  appurtenances  and  machinery,  more  than 
$30,000  a  piece,  we  may  reasonably  conclude  that  24,000,001 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  413 

dollars  would  be  an  ample  allowance.  The  rest  of  the  capital 
Deing  circulating,  such  as  goods  and  money,  could  easily  be 
lurned  into  foreign  commerce,  which  would  be  opened  by 
Free  Trade.  Now  it  is  evident,  that  after  paying  the  pen- 
sions to  the  operatives,  there  would  be  a  fund  left,  to  be  dispos- 
ed of  to  buy  up  the  proprietors  of  the  factories,  of  $2,500,000, 
which  would  enable  the  public  to  allow  them  an  interest 
or  rent  for  shutting  them  up.  Six  per  centum  would  be  suf- 
ficient allowance,  and  this,  upon  twenty-four  millions  of  dol- 
lars, would  amount  to  $1,440,000,  which  would  leave  to  the 
consumers  a  clear  gain  of  $1,060,000  by  the  compromise,  be- 
sides all  the  advantages  they  would  derive  from  a  more  ex- 
tended foreign  demand  for  their  agricultural  productions,  and 
by  an  exemption  from  a  large  amount  now  paid  in  duties  upon 
cotton  fabrics  imported. 

The  only  conceivable  answer  to  this  reasoning,  is,  that  the 
Tariff  does  not  protect  the  manufacture  of  cotton  fabrics  to 
the  extent  of  two  cents  per  yard.  Then,  gentlemen,  we  ask, 
Does  it  protect  them  to  the  extent  of  one  cent  ? — for,  if  so,  the 
tax  is  then  two  millions  and  a  half  of  dollars.  If  it  does  not 
do  this,  then  come  forward,  like  true  patriots,  and  quiet  the 
discontents  of  the  country,  by  proposing  a  redaction  of  the  du- 
ty to  one  cent  per  yard,  and  every  body  will  be  satisfied.  If 
the  manufacture  can  be  sustained  without  any  duty,  why  per- 
severe in  holding  on  to  the  present  one,  at  the  hazard  of  break- 
ing up  the  Union  1 


ESSAY    No.    CXXVI. 

JUNE  13,  1832. 

The  natural  protection  against  foreign  competition  enjoyed  by 
the  industry  of  the  United  States,  from  geographical  position, 
and  the  bulky  nature  of  their  productions,  shewn. 

EVERY  new  discussion  in  relation  to  the  Tariff  policy  sheds 
fresh  light  upon  it.  In  the  supplemental  memorial  to  Congress, 
drawn  up  by  Messrs.  Harper  and  Dew,  there  is  the  following 
expression — "  Perhaps  the  foreign  nations,  among  whom  re- 
strictive systems  are  said  to  obtain,  do  not  afford  protection  so 
efficient  as  our  manufacturers  would  receive  from  the  natural 
situation  of  the  country,  and  the  wants  of  the  government  for 
revenue."  This  is  perfectly  true,  and  it  can  be  shown,  most 
conclusively,  that  the  natural  protection  which  the  industry  of 
the  United  States  enjoys  against  foreign  competition,  arising 
from  the  nature  of  their  products,  and  their  distance  from  Eu- 
2  M* 


U4  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

ope,  which  increases  the  expenses  of  transportation  both 
vvays,  is  much  greater  than  that  enjoyed  by  any  European 
nation  on  the  Atlantic,  in  its  intercourse  with  any  other ;  and 
that,  consequently,  a  much  less  duty  is  required  to  shut  out  the 
foreign  commodity.  We  have  said  "  both  ways,"  because, 
in  estimating  the  natural  protection,  we  must  take  into  consi- 
deration the  expenses  of  transportation,  not  only  of  the  article 
imported,  but  of  the  article  exported  to  pay  for  it ;  and  as  the 
United  States  produce  no  silver,  and  not  much  more  gold  than 
what  is  consumed  in  gilding  and  manufactures,  and  very  few 
fabrics  which  can  be  sent  to  Europe  to  advantage,  it  so  hap- 
pens that  bulky  raw  materials  constitute  the  chief  products 
with  which  the  country  pays  for  its  foreign  imports.  As  this 
IS  a  very  important  view  of  the  subject,  we  will  endeavour  to 
illustrate  it  more  fully. 

England  and  France  both  produce  iron  and  silk  gloves.  In 
the  manufacture  of  iron  England  has  the  advantage,  whilst  in 
the  manufacture  of  silk  gloves  France  has  the  advantage.  The 
natural  protection  which  England  enjoys  against  the  competi- 
tion of  France,  consists  in  the  freight  of  iron  and  gloves  across 
the  channel,  the  expense  of  insurance,  commissions,  and  other 
small  charges  of  shipment,  the  whole  of  which  would  not  ex- 
ceed, both  ways,  five  per  centum.  Even  if  these  articles  were 
as  bulky  as  crates  of  crockery  and  wines,  the  expense  would 
be  very  inconsiderable,  and  perhaps  ten  per  cent.,  both  ways, 
would  be  the  whole  extent  of  natural  protection  that  could  be 
enjoyed  by  the  industry  of  either  country. 

Now,  how  stands  the  case  in  the  United  States?  The  freight 
of  iron  from  England  to  the  United  States,  is  $  2.22  per  ton, 
equal  to  5  per  centum  upon  hammered  iron,  and  10  per  centum 
upon  rolled  iron.  Upon  articles  of  hard  ware,  which  occupy 
greater  space,  it  is  considerably  more.  Upon  coarse  woollens, 
flannels,  and  baizes,  and  cotton  goods,  it  is  estimated  at  10  per 
centum.  And  perhaps  it  would  not  be  far  fi'om  the  truth  to 
say,  that  the  natural  protection  enjoyed  by  the  American  ma- 
nufacturers, upon  the  simple  operation  of  importation,  is  equal, 
upon  an  average,  to  what  is  enjoyed  by  any  European  nation 
in  its  interchanges  with  any  other  European  nation  on  the  At- 
lantic, both  ways. 

It  remains  then  to  be  seen,  what  extent  of  natural  protection 
is  enjoyed  by  the  American  manufacturers,  owing  to  the  bulky 
nature  of  the  products  with  which  alone  we  can  pay  for  the 
foreign  commodities  we  import  from  Europe.  Cotton,  tobac- 
co, rice,  grain,  flour,  naval  stores,  lumber,  fish,  provisions,  cat- 
tle, horses,  mules,  «fcc.,  &c.,  constitute  the  chief  articles  with 
which  we  purchase  foreign  commodities.  All  these  articles 
occupy  a  considerable  bulk  for  a  small  value,  and  the  expenss 
of  sending  them  to  the  foreign  market  constitutes  a  natural 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  415 

protection  to  that  amount,  whatever  it  may  be.  Of  the  total 
exports  of  the  year  ending  30th  September,  1830,  according 
to  the  last  Treasury  Statement  published,  there  were,  of 

Productions  of  the  Sea,      -         .         -         -         $1,725,270 

Forest,  -         -         -  4,192,047 

Agriculture,  viz. 
Rice,        -         -         -         -         -       $1,986,824 
Tobacco,  .         -         -         .         5,-586,365 

Cotton, 29,674,883 

All  other  articles,  including  flour, 
grain,  corn,  bread,  potatoes,  apples, 
cattle,  hogs,  horses,  mules,  beef,  pork, 
lard,  butter,  cheese,  &c.        -         -        9,729,260 

46,977,332 


Manufactures,  viz. 
Cotton  goods,      -         -         -         -      $1,318,183 
Gold  and  silver  coin,  -         -         -  937,151 

All  other  kinds,  including  soap,  can- 
dles, boots,  shoes,  furniture,  carriages, 
hats,  saddlery,  beer,  porter,  ale,  snufF, 
lead,  linseed  oil,  spirits  of  turpentine, 
rum,  loaf  sugar,  chocolate,  gunpow- 
der, drugs,  wearing  apparel,  combs, 
buttons,  brushes,  umbrellas,  parasols 
printing  presses,  types,  musical  instru- 
ments, books  and  maps,  paper,  station- 
ary, paints,  varnish,  earthen  and 
stone  ware,  glass,  tin  ware,  trunks, 
bricks,  lime,  salt,  artificial  flowers,  &c.     4,002,797 


6,258,131 

Non-enumerated  articles,  -        -        309,249 


$  59,462,029 


It  is  not  necessary  to  examine  very  minutely  the  charges 
attendant  upon  the  exportation  of  all  these  commodities.  It 
will  be  sufiicient  to  look  only  at  a  few.  The  freight  alone  upon 
cotton,  which  constitutes  more  than  half  of  all  our  exports, 
taking  it  at  one  cent  per  pound,  and  the  cost  of  the  article  at 
the  port  of  shipment  at  ten  cents,  is  10  per  centum — upon  rice 
it  is  15  per  centum — upon  tobacco  it  is  15  per  cent.' — upon 
flour  it  is  20  per  centum,  that  is  $1  upon  a  barrel  costing  five 
dollars — upon  some  articles  it  is  more  ;  and,  taking  the  ave- 
rage at  15  per  centum,  it  is  probable  that  10  per  centum  may 
be  considered  as  the  absolute  amount  o.{  natural  frotection  en- 
joyed by  the  industry  of  America  over  that  of  any  European 


416  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

country,  in  relation  to  its  intercourse  with  any  other,  arising 
from  the  bulky  nature  of  its  productions,  and  the  distance  at 
which  we  are  located  Irom  foreign  nations. 


ESSAY    No.  C  X  X  V  I  I. 

JDLY    11,    1832. 

Anti-Christian  character  of  the  American  System. 

IT  is  to  us  one  of  the  most  incomprehensible  things  that  so 
many  persons,  who  profess  to  be  advocates  of  religion  and  good 
will  to  man,  should  be  the  disciples  of  a  philosophy  which 
teaches  that  the  selfish  principle  is  paramount  to  the  principle 
of  neighbourly  love.  If  there  be  one  truth  which  the  Christian 
dispensation  enforces  with  more  than  peculiar  emphasis,  after  a 
man's  duty  to  God,  it  is  a  man's  duty  to  his  neighbour.  Upon 
these  two  principles  hang  all  the  law  and  the  prophets. 

And  what  is  man's  duty  to  his  neighbour  1  It  is  to  act  to- 
wards him  according  to  the  rules  of  equity  and  justice — it  is  to 
do  unto  him  as  you  would  that  he  should  do  unto  you.  An  ob- 
servance of  these  rules  could  not  fail  to  make  of  society  a  com- 
plete band  of  brothers ;  and,  so  far  from  their  operating  to  the 
disadvantage  of  individuals,  their  happiness  would  be  incalcu- 
lably promoted  by  it.  The  truth  of  this  position  may  be  illus- 
trated by  a  case  which  is  familiar  to  every  body  who  is  ac- 
quainted with  the  laws  of  hospitality  and  good  breeding.  At 
a  dinner  table,  for  example,  where  a  dozen  well-bred  people 
are  seated,  the  principle  of  neighbourly  love  is  exhibited  in 
form,  if  not  in  substance.  Each  person,  instead  of  helping 
himself  to  the  best  dish  within  his  reach,  offers  it  to  his  neigh- 
bour— and  thus  everyone  enjoys  the  advantage  of  the  kind  of- 
fers of  eleven  persons,  instead  of  relying  upon  his  own  indivi- 
dual exertions,  as  would  be  the  case  at  a  canine  festival,  where 
the  strongest  alone  could  be  fully  gratified. 

Now  what  does  the  restrictive  philosophy  teach  ?  Whj%  that 
individuals,  pursuing  particular  branches  of  industry,  should 
consult  their  own  interests,  without  any  regard  whatever  to  the 
interests  of  their  neighbours ;  that  sections  or  districts  of  coun- 
try should  unite  together  in  a  scheme  calculated  to  render 
others  tributary  to  them  ;  and,  carrying  the  principle  still  fur- 
ther out,  that  nations  should  study  their  own  selfish  interests, 
without  regard  to  the  interests  of  other  nations.  The  conse- 
quences of  such  a  course  of  conduct  cannot  be  other  than  to 
produce  private  enmities  and  heart-burnings  between  those  who 


OF    FREE    TRADE. 


421 


better  off  than  they  would  be  if  the  duty  on  pig  iron  was  en- 
tirely repealed,  and  a  duty  on  foreign  bar  iron,  of  $3.65  per 
ton,  were  imposed.  Their  position,  as  relates  to  this  question, 
is  precisely  the  same  as  that  of  the  tailors,  who  are  protected, 
by  a  duty  of  50  per  centum  upon  ready-made  clothing,  merely 
because  there  is  a  heavy  duty  on  cloth,  the  raw  material  of 
their  labour;  which  duty,  it  could  easily  be  shown,  the  tailors 
would  not  need  if  there  was  no  duty  on  cloth.  The  forge  owners 
could,  therefore,  well  afford  a  reduction  of  the  duty  to  a  re- 
venue scale,  without  being  affected  by  it  in  the  slightest  degree; 
and  if  this  is  the  case  with  those  whose  works  are  within  the 
reach  of  foreign  competition,  how  evident  is  it  that  none  of  the 
rest  could  be  affected  by  it.  Indeed  the  clamour  which  is  made 
about  the  iron  duty  is  all  occasioned  by  the  ignorance  of  those 
who  have  not  examined  the  subject ;  and,  as  the  matter  comes 
to  be  better  understood,  people  will  see  that  the  owners  of  the 
mines  are  at  the  bottom  of  the  whole  imposition. 

Having  thus  shown  the  operation  of  this  duty  upon  the  own- 
ers of  the  iron  mines  and  forges,  let  us  now  see  whether  the 
blacksmiths  are  benefited  by  the  duty  on  bar  iron.  Bar  iron 
is  to  them  the  raw  material  of  their  business.  The  cheaper 
the  price  of  bar  iron,  the  more  articles  they  are  called  upon  to 
make.  Any  one,  who  cannot  see  that  they  are  injured  by  this 
duty,  we  refer  to  the  petition  of  the  Philadelphia  blacksmiths, 
presented  to  the  last  Congress,  where  the  subject  is  handled  in 
a  masterly  manner,  and  is  placed  on  such  grounds  as  to  be  al- 
together irrefutable. 

From  these  considerations  it  is  evident,  that  the  only  per- 
sons who  are  benefited  by  the  duty  on  bar  iron  are  the  own- 
ers of  the  iron  mines  ;  and  even  of  them,  a  small  portion  only, 
living  on  the  sea-board,  are  deeply  interested.  The  question 
then  comes  to  this ;  are  all  the  improvements  in  agriculture, 
commerce,  and  manufactures,  to  which  iron  is  an  indespensable 
material,  to  be  kept  back,  in  order  that  a  few  owners  of  iron 
mines  shall  be  enabled  to  carry  on  a  profitable  business,  at  the 
expense  of  the  pubUc  ? 


ESSAY    No.  C  X  X  X. 

OCTOBER    10,    1832. 


The  effects  of  domestic  competition  on  the  'prices  of  foreign  ma- 
nufactures  at  the  places  of  their  production. 

ONE  of  the  most  plausible  arguments  advanced  by  the  ad- 
vocates of  the  Restrictive  System  in  favour  of  their  policy  is,- 

2N 


422  ESSAYS    ON    THE     PRINCIPLES 

that  the  competition  created  in  the  United  States  by  the  tariff 
has  had  an  influence  in  reducing  the  prices  of  cotton  and 
woollen  manufactures,  not  only  in  this  country,  but  also  in 
Great  Britain.  This  argument,  we  confess,  has,  at  first  sight, 
a  semblance  of  truth  :  and  we  shall  therefore  be  obliged,  in 
order  to  expose  its  fallacy,  to  examine  it  somewhat  in  detail. 

The  eflect  of  competition  is,  doubtless,  to  diminish  prices. 
But  what  is  competition  ?  It  is  that  struggle  between  the  pro- 
ducers of  particular  commodities,  of  similar  or  nearly  similar 
description,  and  of  equal  or  nearly  equal  quality,  by  which 
each  endeavours  to  make  it  the  interest  of  a  purchaser  to  give 
him  a  preference,  which  is  usually  accomplished  by  a  reduc- 
tion of  price.  It  is  this  struggle  to  which  the  world  is  indebt- 
ed for  the  many  improvements  which  now  exist  in  labour-saving 
machinery,  for  the  great  increase  in  skill  and  dexterity,  and  of 
economy  in  the  application  of  industry,  and  for  the  constant 
efl^brts  which  philosophy  and  science  are  daily  bestowing  upon 
the  advancement  of  the  powers  of  production.  But  competi- 
tion, in  order  to  be  efficient,  must  be  carried  on  between  per- 
sons who  are  upon  a  par,  or  nearly  upon  a  par — that  is,  who 
can  afford  to  sell  their  fabrics  at  the  same,  or  nearly  the  same, 
prices.  If  A,  who  is  a  hatter,  for  example,  proposes  to  enter 
into  competition  with  B,  who  is  also  a  hatter,  he  can  only  do 
so  by  oflering  his  hats,  of  equal  quality,  at  the  same  price  at 
which  the  latter  oflbrs  his.  If,  from  any  cause,  A  is  not  able 
to  make  them  as  cheap  as  B,  there  can  be  no  competition,  on 
the  part  of  A,  which  will  have  a  tendency  to  induce  B  to  lower 
his  price.  The  tendency  of  the  competition  is,  indeed,  to  make 
A  reduce  his  price ;  but,  as  he  cannot  do  this  without  loss,  he 
must,  sooner  or  later,  quit  the  field. 

The  case  is  precisely  similar  in  regard  to  the  position  in 
which  the  United  States  stand  towards  Great  Britain.  The 
latter  nation  having  advantages  over  the  former  in  cheapness 
of  capital  and  wages,  and  being  quite  upon  a  par  as  to  improv- 
ed machinery,  and  very  nearly  so  as  to  some  raw  materials, 
and  upon  a  better  footing  as  regards  others,  is  able  to  produce 
manufactures  of  cotton,  wool,  and  iron,  at  a  cheaper  rate  than 
they  can  be  produced  in  the  United  States.  Indeed  the  differ- 
ence in  the  cost  of  production  of  some  fabrics,  between  the  two 
countries,  is  so  great,  that,  were  it  not  for  high  duties,  no  com- 
petition whatever  could  be  sustained  ;  and,  therefore,  the  rival- 
ship  of  the  United  States,  under  a  system  of  Free  Trade,  could 
have  no  influence  whatever  in  reducing  their  prices.  Let  us 
now  see  whether  the  case  be  altered  by  the  artificial  compe- 
tition brought  about  by  high  duties.  An  article  of  cotton  ma- 
nufacture, we  will  suppose  to  cost,  in  England,  with  charges  of 
impost  added,  ten  cents  per  yard,  whilst  the  cost  of  making  a 
similar  fabric,  at  home,  would  be  fifteen  cents  per  yard.     The 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  423 

question  then  is,  whether  a  protecting  duty  of  fifty  per  centum 
would  have  the  effect  of  reducing  the  price,  in  Great  Britian, 
below  ten  cents. 

In  the  first  place,  the  immediate  effect  of  such  a  law  would 
be  to  diminish  the  importation,  into  the  United  States,  of  cotton 
fabrics,  on  account  of  the  rise  in  price :  for,  nothing  is  more 
clear,  than  that  as  price  rises,  consumption  diminishes.  This 
diminution  of  demand  would  occasion  a  temporary  fall  in  the 
price  of  cotton  fabi-ics  in  Gi'eat  Britian,  partly  arising  from  the 
excess  of  stocks  on  hand,  for  which  the  regular  market  would 
have  been  thus  cut  oft',  partly  from  a  fall  in  the  wages  of  la- 
bour, which  would  result  from  the  dismissing  of  the  surplus 
hands,  and  partly  from  the  fall  which  would  take  place  in  the 
price  of  the  raw  material.  This  fall,  however,  would  not  have 
been  the  result  of  competition,  but  of  a  diminished  demand,  and 
would  only  be  of  temporary  duration.  The  production  of  cot- 
ton manufactures  would  be  suspended  until  the  supply  should 
be  adapted  to  the  new  extent  of  the  demand — wages  would  re- 
cover their  former  level,  by  the  idle  hands  gradually  finding 
employment  in  other  pursuits — and  the  production  of  cotton 
would  be  diminished  until  the  supply  should  be  only  equal  to 
the  new  demand.  The  price  would  then  again  rise  to  ten 
cents,  and  thus  fa*/  it  will  be  seen  that  the  operation  of  duties 
would  have  been  productive  of  r\o  ■permanent  reduction  of  price. 
Much  evil,  however,  would  have  resulted,  pending  this  process, 
to  the  American  manufacturers.  They  would,  for  a  consider- 
able time,  have  had  to  encounter  the  foreign  competition  of 
foreign  fabrics,  sold  in  the  market  at  less  than  the  cost  of  im- 
portation, and,' besides  this,  the  domestic  competition,  which, 
operating  together,  would  have  brought  down  prices  below  the 
American  cost  of  production.  Time,  however,  would  cure  the 
evil,  and,  ultimately,  no  more  fabrics  would  be  produced  than 
could  be  sold  at  prices  which  would  give  the  ordinary  profits 
of  capital ;  and  thus  the  prices  of  cotton  fabrics  would  settle 
at  ten  cents  per  yard  in  Great  Britain,  and  fifteen  cents  in  the 
United  States.  It  remains  now,  to  be  seen,  whether  the  com- 
petition hereafter  to  be  carried  on  in  the  two  countries  would 
diminish  the  price,  in  Great  Britain,  below  ten  cents.  To  as- 
certain this,  it  would  be  requisite  to  know  whether  the  number  of 
competitors  would  be  greater  or  less  after  the  imposition  of  the 
high  duties,  for,  according  to  the  number  of  competitors  must 
be  the  probabilities  of  diminished  prices.  A  moment's  considera- 
tion would  solve  this  difficulty.  The  establishment  of  manu- 
factures in  the  U.  States  would  increase  competition  in  this 
country;  but  the  cessation  of  the  American  demand  would  di- 
minishit  in  Great  Britain  ;  and,  as  the  number  of  pers-)ns  who 
could  find  employment  in  manufactures,  which  could  only  be 


424  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

sold  at  fifteen  cents  per  yard,  would  not  be  as  great  as  the 
number  which  would  be  employed  in  manufactures  which  could 
be  sold  at  ten  cents  per  yard,  in  the  two  countries  united,  the 
competition  would  not  be  as  strong  as  if  the  high  duties  had 
never  been  imposed — and,  consequently,  prices  would  not  be 
as  likely  to  fall. 

It  is  therefore  an  error,  to  suppose  that  our  Tariff  has  had 
the  efiect  of  occasioning  any  permanent  reduction  in  the  prices 
of  manufactures  in  Great  Britain.  Besides,  if  it  be  true  that 
a  manufacturer  can  afford  to  reduce  his  price  in  proportion  to 
the  quantities  he  sells,  which,  we  believe,  is  admitted  by  all,  it 
follows,  that  our  tariff",  by  diminishing  the  quantities  of  certain 
tabrics  required  from  Great  Britain,  has  had  the  tendency  of 
keeping  up,  instead  of  diminishing,  prices  in  that  country ;  and, 
low  as  the  prices  already  are  there,  they  would  have  been  still 
lower  had  not  our  Restrictive  System  diminished  the  demand 
for  them.  But,  say  our  restrictionists,  the  high  duties  have 
created  a  domestic  competition  which  has  brought  down  prices 
in  the  United  States.  This  is  true,  but  no  domestic  competi- 
tion can  ever  bring  down  prices  below  the  cost  of  production ; 
and  as  the  cost  of  production  in  the  United  States,  where 
capital  is  worth  from  five  to  ten  per  centum  per  annum,  wages 
fifty  cents  to  a  dollar  and  a  half  per  day,  and  first  rate  land,  in 
the  Western  country,  at  one  dollar  and  a  quarter  per  acre,  can 
never  be  so  low  as  it  is  in  Great  Britain,  where  capital  can  be 
had  at  three  per  centum  per  annum,  labour  at  half  our  rates, 
and  where  land  is  wholly  beyond  the  reach  of  the  labouring 
poor — it  is  altogether  impossible,  so  long  as  those  inequalities 
exist,  that  we  can  manufacture  as  cheap  as  the  British  can. 
This  important  fact  seems  to  be  entirely  overlooked  by  the  ma- 
nufacturers, and  they  are  perpetually  urging  the  idea  that  all 
they  want  is  a  protection  for  a  few  years,  until  they  can  get 
fairly  under  way.  This  they  said  in  1816,  this  they  said  iii 
1824  and  1828,  and  this  they  will  say  fifty  years  hence,  unless 
they  should,  as  is  quite  likely,  long  before,  be  broken  down  by 
smugglers.  The  fact  is,  no  temporary  protection  can  avail 
against  such  permanent  inequalities  as  those  we  have  described. 
The  prices  of  the  raw  materials,  wool  and  iron,  are  cheaper  in 
Great  Britain  than  they  are  in  this  country,  whilst  cotton  does 
not  cost  one  cent  per  pound  more  to  transport  it  to  Liverpool, 
than  it  does  to  transport  it  from  the  cotton-growing  to  the  ma- 
nufacturing states.  In  manufacturing  skill  and  invention,  too, 
there  are  no  improvements,  in  this  country,  which  would  not 
be  accessible  to  the  British ;  and,  if  we  have  cheap  water 
power,  they  have  cheap  steam  power,  and,  besides  this,  iron 
and  mechanical  labour,  to  make  their  machinery,  at  half  the 
price  which  we  must  pay.     All  idea,  therefore,  of  any  ultimate 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  425 

reduction  of  prices,  by  domestic  competition  m  this  country, 
down  to  the  British  prices,  is,  in  our  opinion,  altogether  de- 
lusive. 


ESSAY    No.  CXXXI. 

NOVEMBER    14,      1832- 

Tlie  forced  consumption  of  Cotton  in  the  United  States,  occasions 
a  diminution  of  the  foreign  demand  to  a  7nuch  greater  ex- 
tent. 

THERE  exists  a  practice,  with  the  Tariff  party,  of  ad- 
vancing their  cause  by  the  enunciation  of  propositions  which 
are  true  in  themselves,  but  which  convey  erroneous  or  false 
impressions,  owing  to  other  correlative  truths  being  1-eft  out  of 
sight.  Of  this  number  is  one  which  is  now  going  the  rounds 
of  the  newspapers,  in  the  following  words  : 

"  It  is  calculated  that,  of  the  cotton  raised  in  the  Southern 
states,  150,000  bales  are  manufactured  in  the  Middle  and 
Eastern  states." 

What  is  left  out  of  sight  here,  is,  that  in  order  that  this  quan- 
tity of  cotton  may  be  manufactured  in  the  Middle  and  Eastern 
states,  the  Southern  states  are  prevented  from  selling  double 
the  quantity — that  is,  300,000  bales  of  cotton — ii  foreign  na- 
tions.    If  we  are  asked  for  the  proof  of  this,  we  give  it  thus  : 

These  150,000  bales  of  cotton,  which  cost  10  cts.  per  pound, 
are  converted  into  cloth,  which  sells  for  at  least  40  cents  per 
pound,  as  may  be  evident  when  it  is  known  that  a  pound  of 
cotton  will  make  five  yards  of  cloth  worth  8  cents  per  yard. 
A  bale  of  cotton  weighs  about  300  pounds,  and  the  quantity 
contained  in  150,000  bales  is,  consequently,  45,000,000  pounds 
— for  which  the  manufacturers,  at  10  cts.  per  pound,  foif 
$4,.500,000.  But  they  sell  the  cloth  made  out  of  this  cotton,  to 
the  amount  of  four  times  that  sum — that  is,  to  the  amount  of 
S  18,000,000.  Now  let  anyone  put  the  question  to  himself, 
and  ask,  whether  foreign  nations  would  not  most  gladly  take 
double  the  quantity  of  cotton,  from  the  Southern  states,  which 
our  manufacturers  take,  if  we  would  purchase  of  them  cotton 
manufactures  to  the  value  of  $18,000,000  ?  And  would  they 
not,  besides,  give  us  their  goods  much  cheaper?  There  is  not 
a  doubt  but  that  the  tariff  enables  the  cotton  manufacturers  to 
get  at  least  two  cents  per  yard  more  for  their  fabrics,  upon  an 
2N* 


426  ESSAYS    ON    THE    PRINCIPLES 

average,  than  the  same  qualities  could  be  procured  for  else- 
where. This  increase  of  price  is  e(|ual  to  ten  cents  on  a  pound 
of  cloth  containing  five  yards  ;  and  it  would  thus  seem  that  the 
consumers  of  cotton  cloth,  in  the  United  States,  are  positively 
no  better  off,  by  the  existence  of  the  domestic  cotton  manufac- 
ture, than  they  would  be  if  they  were  to  procure  all  they  con- 
sume from  abroad,  and  give  the  foreign  manufacturer  the  raw- 
material  for  nothing.  This  assertion  may  appear  strange,  but 
we  will  substantiate  it  by  a  very  simple  illustration : 

A  farmer  has  for  sale  a  bushel  of  wheat,  worth  one  dollar. 
He  wants  a  yard  of  cloth,  for  which  the  American  manufac- 
turer asks  $4,  and  will  take  his  bushel  of  wheat  m  part  payment, 
at  one  dollar.  A  foreigner  will  furnish  him  a  yard  of  the  same 
quality  of  cloth  for  $3.  Now  it  is  clear  that,  to  the  farmer,  it 
makes  no  sort  of  odds  whether  he  buys  of  the  American  ma- 
nufacturer the  yard  of  cloth  at  $4,  and  gives  him  the  wheat, 
in  part  payment,  at  $1,  or  buys  it  of  the  foreigner  at  $3,  and 
gives  him  the  wheat  for  nothing.  And  yet,  although  there 
would  be  no  difference  to  the  farmer  which  bargain  he  made, 
although  he  can  perceive  that  the  latter  one  would  be  rank  stu- 
pidity, and  the  former  one  lead  to  precisely  the  same  result — 
yet,  because  the  said  former  one  is  called  the  American  Sys- 
tem, he  is  bamboozled  into  the  belief  that  it  would  amazingly 
be  for  his  interest  to  give  his  wheat  for  a  nominal  price,  taken 
away  from  him  at  the  very  same  instant,  in  the  price  he  must 
pay  for  his  cloth. 

Between  the  case  of  the  flour  and  the  cotton,  there  is  no  dif- 
ference ;  and,  what  is  true  of  a  bushel  of  wheat,  is  also  true  of 
150,000  bales  of  cotton. 


ESSAY    No.    CXXXII. 


DECEMBER    3],    1832. 


Closing  Address  of  the  Editor,  on  the  discontinuance  of  the  Ban- 
ner of  the  Constitution.  Retrospective  View  of  the  -progress 
made  by  the  cause  of  Free  Trade  during  the  four  last  years. 

THE  present  number  terminates  the  third  volume  of  the 
"  Banner,"  and  closes  its  publication. 

In  taking  leave  of  the  many  friends  who  have  honoured  us 
with  their  support,  during  the  whole,  or  a  part,  of  the  four 
years  which  we  have  devoted  to  the  maintenance  of  the  cause 
oi  Free  Trade,  we  cannot  refrain  from  indulging  in  a  few  re- 
marks, which  custom  seems  to  call  for,  on  the  occasion. 


OF    FREE    TRADE.  427 

At  the  period  when  we  embarked  in  the  editorial  career,  the 
Tariff  Act  of  1828  had  been  in  operation  six  months,  and  the 
Protective  Pohcy  was  regarded  by  the  great  body  of  ihe  peo- 
ple North  of  the  Potomac,  as  the  settled  policy  of  (lie  country. 
A  residence  of  near  five  years  in  South  America,  in  the  service 
of  the  Government,  had  given  us  a  practical  opportunity  of 
judging  of  the  importance  of  foreign  commerce,  under  a  system 
of  Free  Trade ;  and  after  our  return  to  the  United  States,  it  oc- 
curred to  us,  that  so  noble  a  cause  ought  not  to  be  suflered  to 
perish,  without  at  least  some  eflbrts  to  save  it.  The  path  of 
our  interest  lay  in  a  different  direction,  but  we  chose  to  assist 
in  making  the  attempt  to  rally  the  broken  forces  which  had 
been  dispersed  by  the  mighty  power  of  the  "  American  Sys- 
tem," by  co-operating  with  the  few  who  remained  true  to  prin- 
ciple ;  and  although,  by  almost  ninety-nine  out  of  every  hun- 
dred men  at  the  North,  it  was  considered  as  a  "forlorn  hope," 
w^e  wxre  not  deterred  from  the  experiment.  During  the  first 
year,  when  we  published  the  Free  Trade  Advocate,  the  efibrts  of 
our  party  were  almost  fruitless.  One  of  the  great  political  bodies 
into  which  the  country  was  divided,  seized  upon  the  American 
System  as  the  means  of  riding  into  power.  The  popularity  of 
a  term  which  was  calculated  to  make  a  strong  appeal  to  the 
patriotic  feelings  of  the  people,  was  too  potent  for  the  opposite 
party  to  resist,  and  they  accordingly  adopted  the  same  theme. 
The  second  year  began  to  exhibit  some  symptoms  of  returning 
reason  at  the  North,  which  induced  the  Jackson  party  to  begin 
to  speak  of  "  a  judicious  Tariff."  The  third  saw  great 
changes  ;  and  the  fourth  wound  up  with  a  declaration  of  ad- 
hesion to  the  principles  of  Free  Trade,  on  the  part  of  the  Pre- 
sident and  his  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  almost  as  orthodox 
as  held  by  Adam  Smith  himself 

That  this  Journal  has  been,  in  the  estimation  of  many  of  our 
friends,  in  some  degree  instrumental  in  bringing  about  this 
change  of  sentiment,  it  would  be  an  aflectation  of  modesty  in 
us  to  deny.  Keeping  up  a  constant  and  steady  fire,  for  four 
years,  upon  the  strong  holds  of  the  enemy,  having,  at  times 
through  our  exchange  papers,  a  hundred  presses  and  upwards, 
which  made  occasional  or  copious  extracts  from  our  columns, 
and  furnishing  a  weekly  supply  of  materials  to  twelve  or  fifteen 
hundred  intelligent  men,  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States,  in- 
cluding the  Executive  Ofhcers  at  Washington,  and  a  considera- 
ble number  of  Members  of  Congress,  and  of  State  Legislatures, 
it  would,  indeed,  have  been  strange  if  some  of  our  shot  had  not 
taken  effect.  In  this  result,  however,  the  merit,  if  any  be  due, 
belongs  chiefly  to  the  powerful  speeches,  documents,  essays, 
and  other  productions,  with  which  our  columns  have  been  en- 
riched by  others,  and  which  enabled  us  to  embody  in  a  smaU 
compass,  more  information  upon  Political  Economy  and  Con 


428  ESSAYS    ON    THE     PRINCIPLES 

stitutional  Law,  than  is  to  be  found  in  any  work  that  has  ever 
heretofore  been  published.  Our  own  immediate  eflorts  were 
chiefly  directed  to  practical  and  familiar  illustrations  of  the 
doctrines  we  espoused,  and  to  the  collecting  of  facts  in  refer- 
ence to  the  operation  of  the  tariff,  to  be  found  no  where  in 
books,  which  would  serve,  in  the  hands  of  statesmen,  as  mate- 
rials for  more  laboured  and  studied  productions ;  and  if  in  this 
humble  service  we  have  been  successful,  it  is  to  be  wholly  as- 
cribed to  the  undivided  attention  with  which  we  have  pursued 
the  subject. 

But  if  we  lay  no  claim  to  merit  on  the  score  of  ability,  there 
is  one  matter  which  we  have  a  right  to  urge,  without  being 
liable  to  the  imputation  of  vanity.  In  the  course  we  have  pur- 
sued, our  intentions  have  been  sincere  and  patriotic.  We  have 
not  been,  as  far  as  we  can  judge  of  our  motives,  in  the  slightest 
degree  influenced  by  selfish  considerations ;  and  if  we  have  dif- 
fered in  our  political  views  from  most  of  our  personal  friends, 
we  venture  to  think  that  they  will  admit,  that  neither  the  hope 
of  political  preferment  or  of  pecuniary  reward,  has  induced  us 
to  stand  up  against  such  a  current  of  prejudice  as  that  which  it 
has  been  our  fate  to  encounter.  Towards  those  who  have  dif- 
fered from  us,  we  entertain  not  the  shadow  of  ill  will.  There 
is  not  a  manufacturer  at  the  North,  or  a  sugar  planter  at  the 
South,  or  an  iron  master  in  any  part  of  the  Union,  whom  we 
would  not  willingly  serve,  as  far  as  we  are  able,  if  we  could  do 
it  without  interfering  with  the  higher  obligation  we  owe  to  the 
public  ;  and  we  have,  therefore,  the  happiness  to  know,  that 
we  lay  down  our  arms  in  peace  with  all  men.  If  others  have 
enmity  towards  us,  we  can  assure  them  that  it  is  not  recipro- 
cated. We  profess  a  creed  which  teaches  unbounded  charity 
and  good  will  to  man ;  and  we  feel,  on  this  occasion,  that  we 
obey  its  dictates.  To  our  editorial  brethren,  we  are  bound  to 
acknowledge  their  liberal  and  gentlemanly  deportment  towards 
us.  We  have  never,  ourselves,  descended  to  personalities,  and, 
with  a  few  obscure  exceptions,  we  have  never  met  with  rude 
attacks  from  others;  a  circumstance  which  has  proved  con- 
clusively to  our  mind,  that  it  is  possible  to  place  the  newspaper 
press  upon  a  much  more  dignified  ground,  than  it  at  present 
occupies.  Every  one  who  has  read  our  paper  knows,  that  we 
have  always  handled  the  American  System  without  gloves ; 
that  we  have  attacked  it  with  small  sword  and  broad  sword ; 
that  we  have  assailed  it  in  every  honourable  manner  w^e  could 
invent,  with  the  weapons  of  argument,  of  irony,  and  of  ridicule; 
and  yet,  because  we  treated  with  courtesy  those  who  upheld 
it,  we  have  enjoyed  almost  an  entire  exemption  from  the  tirades 
and  denunciations  with  which  some  of  our  contemporaries,  who 
attack  men,  are  greeted  almost  daily. 

To  that  portion  of  our  subscribers  who  have  fulfilled  their  en- 


OF    FREE     TRADE.  429 

gagements  with  us,  we  tender  our  most  grateful  acknowledg- 
ments. To  those  who  are  yet  to  render  us  that  favour,  we 
shall,  in  due  time,  perform  the  same  pleasing  service.  From 
many  hundreds  of  our  patrons  we  have  received  the  kindest  let- 
ters, filled  with  expressions  of  the  most  friendly  feelings ;  and 
if  we  have  not  replied  to  them  all,  it  has  not  been  because  we 
have  not  been  deeply  impressed  with  a  proper  sense  of  what 
was  due  to  unsolicted  marks  of  civility,  but  because  we  felt  re- 
luctant to  tax  others  with  the  postage,  which  we  could  not  our- 
selves well  afford  to  pay.  To  all,  we  bid  an  affectionate  fare- 
well ;  and  we  trust  that  Heaven,  in  its  goodness,  will  carry  us 
safely,  without  bloodshed  or  disunion,  through  the  awful  crisis 
at  which  the  country  has  at  last  arrived. 


430  APPENDIX. 


THE  COMPROMISE  ACT. 

AN  ACT  to  modify  the  act  of  the  fourteenth  of  July,  one  thou- 
sand eight  hundred  and  thirty-two,  and  allother  acts  imposing 
duties  on,  imports. 

[Sec.  1.]  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives of  the  United  States  of  America,  in  Congress  assem- 
bled, That  from  and  after  the  thirty-first  day  of  December,  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty-three,  in  all  cases  where 
duties  are  imposed  on  foreign  imports  by  the  act  of  the  four- 
teenth day  of  July,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty-two, 
entitled  "  An  act  to  alter  and  amend  the  several  acts  imposing 
duties  on  imports,"  or  by  any  other  act,  shall  exceed  twenty 
per  centum  on  the  value  thereof,  one-tenth  part  of  such  excess 
shall  be  deducted  ;  from  and  after  the  thirty-first  day  of  De- 
cember, one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty-five,  another 
tenth  part  thereof  shall  be  deducted ;  from  and  after  the  thirty- 
first  day  of  December,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty- 
seven,  another  tenth  part  thereof  shall  be  deducted ;  from  and 
after  the  thirty-first  day  of  December,  one  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  thirty-nine,  another  tenth  part  thereof  shall  be  deduct- 
ed ;  and  from  and  after  the  thirty-first  day  of  December,  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty-one,  one-half  of  the  residue  of 
such  excess  shall  be  deducted  ;  and  from  and  after  the  thirtieth 
day  of  June,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty-two,  the 
other  half  thereof  shall  be  deducted. 

Sec.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  so  much  of  the  se- 
cond section  of  the  act  of  the  fourteenth  of  July  aforesaid,  as 
fixes  the  rate  of  duty  on  all  milled  and  fulled  cloth,  known  by 
the  names  of  plains,  kerseys,  or  kendal  cottons,  of  which  wool 
is  the  only  material,  the  value  whereof  does  not  exceed  thirty- 
five  cents  a  square  yard,  at  five  per  centum  ad  va^^rem,  shall 
be,  and  the  same  is  hereby  repealed.  And  the  said  articles 
shall  be  subject  to  the  same  duty  of  fifty  per  centum,  as  is  pro- 
vided by  the  said  second  section  for  other  manufactures  of 
wool ;  which  duty  shall  be  liable  to  the  same  deductions  as  are 
prescribed  by  the  first  section  of  this  act. 

Sec.  3.  And  be  it  further  enacted.  That  until  the  thirtieth  day 
of  June,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty  two,  the  duties 
imposed  by  existing  laws,  as  modified  by  this  act,  shall  remain 
and  continue  to  be  collected.  And  from  and  after  the  day  last 
aforesaid,  all  duties  upon  imports  shall  be  collected  in  ready 
money;  and  all  credits  now  allowed  by  law  in  the  payment  of 
duties,  shall  be,  and  hereby  are  abolished  ;  and  such  duties 
shall  be  laid  for  the  purpose  of  raising  such  revenue  as  may  be 
necessary  to  an  economical  administration  of  the  Government; 


APPENDIX.  431 

and  from  and  after  the  day  last  aforesaid,  the  duties  required 
to  be  paid  by  law  on  goods,  wares  and  merchandise,  shall  be 
assessed  upon  the  value  thereof  at  the  port  where  the  same 
shall  be  entered,  under  such  regulations  as  may  be  prescribed 
by  law. 

Sec.  4.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  in  addition  to  the  ar- 
ticles now  exempt  by  the  act  of  the  fourteenth  of  July,  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty-two,  and  the  existing  laws, 
from  the  payment  of  duties,  the  following  articles,  imported 
from  and  after  the  thirty-first  day  of  December,  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  thirty-three,  and  until  the  thirtieth  day  ot 
.Tune,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty-two,  shall  also 
(be)  admitted  to  entry,  free  from  duty,  to  wit :  bleached  and 
unbleached  linens,  table  linen,  linen  napkins,  and  linen  cam- 
brics; and  worsted  stuff  goods,  shawls,  and  other  manufactures 
of  silk  and  worsted,  manufactures  of  silk,  or  of  which  silk  shah 
be  the  component  material  of  chief  value,  coming  from  this  side 
of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  except  sewing  silk. 

Sec.  5.  And  he  it  further  enacted,  That  from  and  after  the 
said  thirtieth  day  of  June,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty- 
two,  the  following  articles  shall  be  admitted  to  entry,  free  from 
duty,  to  wit :  indigo,  quicksilver,  sulphur,  crude  saltpetre,  grind- 
stones, refined  borax,  emery,  opium,  tin  in  plates  and  sheets,  gum 
arabic,  gum  Senegal,  lac  dye,  madder,  madder  root,  nuts  and 
berries  used  in  dying,  saffron,  tumeric,  woad  or  pastel,  aloes, 
ambergris,  Burgundy  pitch,  cochineal,  chamomile  flowers,  co- 
riander seed,  catsup,  chalk,  coculus  indicus,  horn  plates  for 
lanterns,  ox  horns,  other  horns  and  tips,  India  rubber,  manu- 
factured ivory,  juniper  berries,  musk,  nuts  of  all  kinds,  oil  of 
juniper,  unmanufactured  rattans  and  reeds,  tortoise-shell,  tin  foil, 
shellac,  vegetables  used  principally  in  dying  and  composing 
dyes,  weld,  and  all  articles  employed  chiefly  for  dying,  except 
alum,  copperas,  bichromate  of  potash,  prussiate  of  potash,  chro- 
mate  of  potash,  and  nitrate  of  lead,  aquafortis,  and  tartaric 
acid.  And  all  imports  on  which  the  first  section  of  this  act 
may  operate,  and  all  articles  now  admitted  to  entry  free  from 
duty,  or  paying  a  less  rate  of  duty  than  twenty  per  centum  ad 
valorem,  before  the  said  thirtieth  day  of  June,  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  forty-two,  from  and  after  that  day  may  be  admit- 
ted to  entry  subject  to  such  duty,  not  exceeding  twenty  per 
centum  ad  valorem,  as  shall  be  provided  for  by  la«iv. 

Sec.  6.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  so  much  of  the  act  of 
the  fourteenth  day  of  July,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
thirty-two,  or  of  any  other  act  as  is  inconsistent  with  this  act, 
shall  be,  and  the  same  is  hereby  repealed :  Provided,  That  no- 
thing herein  contained  shall  be  so  construed  as  to  prevent  the 
passage,  prior  or  subsequent  to  the  said  thirtieth  day  of  June, 
one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty-two,  free  of  any  act  or 


432  APPENDIX. 

acts,  from  time  to  time,  that  may  be  necessary  to  detect,  prevent, 
or  punish  evasions  of  the  duties  on  imports  imposed  by  law,  nor 
to  prevent  the  passage  of  any  act,  prior  to  the  thirtieth  day  of 
June,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty-two,  in  the  con- 
tingency either  of  excess  or  deficiency  of  revenue,  altering  the 
rates  of  duties  on  articles  which,  by  the  aforesaid  act  of  four- 
teenth day  of  July,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty-two, 
are  subject  to  a  less  rate  of  duty  than  twenty  per  centum  ad 
valorem,  in  such  manner  as  not  to  exceed  that  rate,  and  so  to 
adjust  the  revenue  to  either  of  the  said  contingencies. 

[Approved,  March  2,  1833.] 


THE  END. 


APPENDIX,  A. 

Minutes  of  the  Meeting  referred  to,  at  page  366, 

WHICH    CALLED    THE    FrEE    TrADE    CONVENTION. 

FREE  TRADE  MEETING. 

A  number  of  gentlemen  from  different  States,  having 
assembled  at  the  house  of  Condy  Raguet,  No.  12  Sansom 
street,  at  his  invitation,  on  the  evening  of  Monday  the  6th  of 
June,  1831,  for  the  purpose  of  conversing  upon  matters  con- 
nected with  the  advancement  of  the  principles  of  Free 
Trade,  there  were  present  the  following  individuals,  namely, 

Henry  D.  Sedgwick,  of  Stockbridge,  Mass. 

Theodore  Sedgwick,  of  same. 

Hon.  Warren  R.  Davis,  of  Pendleton,  S.  C. 

Dr.  Philip  Tidyman,  of  Charleston,  S.  C. 

Clement  C.  Biddle,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

John  Sarchet,  

William  Mcllhenny,  

Edward  Bettle,  

William  Swift,  

Benjamin  Gerhard,  

Condy  Raguet.  

On  motion  it  was  Resolved,  that  the  Company  do  organize 
itself  into  a  meeting  for  the  purpose  of  deliberating  upon  the 
expediency  of  calling  an  Anti-Tariff  Convention ;  where- 
upon, Clement  C.  Biddle  was  appointed  Chairman,  and 
Condy  Raguet,  Secretary. 

The  attention  of  the  meeting  having  been  called  to  an 
address  recently  published  in  the  New  York  Evening  Post, 
and  written  by  Mr.  Henry  D.  Sedgwick,  a  gentleman  present 
at  the  meeting,  it  was  unanimously 

Resolved,  That  a  Convention  for  the  purpose  of  securing 
the  efficient  co-operation  of  the  friends  of  Free  Trade, 
throughout  the  United  States,  in  procuring  the  repeal  of  the 
Restrictive  System,  be  held  at  the  Mansion  House  Hotel,  in 
the  City  of  Philadelphia,  at  10  o'clock  in  the  morning  of 
Friday,  the  30th  day  of  September  next ;  and  that  there  be 
invited  to  the  same,  such  citizens  from  all  the  States  of  the 
Union,  without  distinction  of  party,  who  are  favourable  to 
the  object  of  the  meeting,  as  may  find  it  convenient  to  attend. 
It  was  also 

Resolved,  That  notice  of  the  said  meeting  be  published, 
and  that  editors  throughout  the  Umted  States,  friendly  to  the 
cause  of  Free  Trade,  be  requested  to  give  it  circulation. 

2  0  433 


434  APPENDIX. 

On  motion, 

Resolved,  That  a  Committee  be  appointed  to  correspond 
with,  and  invite  to  the  Convention,  such  friends  of  our  cause 
as  may  reside  at  a  distance. 

Whereupon,  the  following  gentlemen  were  appointed  by 
the  meeting,  viz. :  Messrs.  H.  D.  Sedgwick,  Biddle,  Davis, 
Tidyman,  and  Raguet. 

Resolved,  That  the  said  Committee  be  authorized  to  asso- 
ciate with  them,  such  other  individuals  residing  in  other 
States,  as  they  may  deem  proper. 

And  then  the  meeting  adjourned,  sine  die. 

Clement  C.  Biddle,  Chairman, 
jit  test. 

CoNDY  Raguet,  Secretary. 


APPENDIX,  B. 

Names  of  the  Members  of  the  Free  Trade  Conven- 
tion, 

Which  assembled  in  Philadelphia,  on  the  30th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1831,  at  the  Musical  Fund  Hall,  and  continued  in 
session  until  the  7th  of  October,  as  taken  from  the  printed 
Journal  in  pamphlet  form,  of  which  copies  were  furnished  to 
each  member. 

MAINE. 

Joshua  Carpenter,  Charles  Q.  Clapp. 

S.  H.  Mudge, 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

Henry  Lee,  Isaac  Newhall, 

T.  S.  Pomeroy,  J.  W.  Rogers, 

Samuel  Swett,  Henry  Williams, 

Gideon  Tucker,  Edward  Cruft, 

Horatio  Byington,  William  Goddard, 

Theodore  Sedgwick,  Ebenezer  Breed, 

John  L.  Gardner,  William  Foster, 

George  Peabody,  Thomas  P.  Bancroft, 

Pickering  Dodge,  John  Pickens. 
Joseph  Ropes, 

rh^de  island. 
William  Hunter. 


APPENDIX.  435 

CONNECTICUT. 

William  J.  Forbes,  Roger  Minot  Sherman. 

James  Donaghe, 

NEW    YORK. 

Preserved  Fish,  George  T.  Trimble, 

Edwin  Bergh,  Albert  Gallatin, 

Jonathan  Goodhue,  Jacob  Lorillard, 

John  A.  Stephens,  Moses  H.  Grinnell, 

John  Constable,  Zebedee  Ring, 

George  Griswold,  John  S.  Crary, 

John  Leonard,  James  G.  King, 

Samuel  P.  Brown,  H.  Kneeland, 

Thomas  R.  Mercein,  Charles  H.  Russell, 

Isaac  Carow,  Isaac  Bronson, 

James  Boorman,  James  Heard, 

Benjamin  L.  Swan,  E.  D.  Comstock, 

John  Augustine  Smith,  Silas  JVI.  Stilwell. 

NEW    JERSEY. 

C.  L.  Hardenbergh,  John  C.  Schenck, 

John  Bayard  Kirkpatrick,  John  Potter, 

J.  C.  Van  Dyke,  Kenry  Vethake, 

Miles  C,  Smith,  John  R.  Thomson, 

Henry  Clow,  R.  F.  Stockton. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

Joseph  R.  Evans,  George  Emlen, 

Clement  C.  Biddle,  Edward  D.  Ingraham, 

John  M.  Barclay,  E.  Littell, 

Samuel  F.  Smith,  Isaac  W.  Norris, 

Richard  Price,  Henry  R.  Watson, 

John  A.  Brown,  P.  H.  Nicklin, 

Condy  Raguet,  Samuel  Spackman, 

Thomas  P.  Cope,  William  Mcllhenny. 

MARYLAND. 

William  W.  Handy,  George  Hoffman, 

Arnold  D.  Jones,  John  I.  Donaldson. 

VIRGINIA. 

Philip  P.  Barbour,  Charles  Yancey, 

Rickard  Booker,  Ferdinand  W.  Risque, 

Samuel  L.  Venable,  Thomas  W.  Gilmer, 

Walker  Hawes,  H.  R.  Anderson, 

Thomas  Miller,  Charles  Everett, 

George  C.  Dromgoole,  George  M.  Payne, 

Richard  Jones,  William  JSIaxwell, 

Robert  Hurt,  R.  0.  Grayson, 


436 


APPENDIX. 


Malcolm  Macfarlancl, 
Bunvell  Bassett, 
Josiah  Ellis, 

Alexander  Gordon  Knox, 
James  S.  Brander, 
Benjamin  F.  Dabncy, 
S.  A.  Storrow, 
Charles  Cocke, 
Henry  H.  Watts, 
John  Dickinson, 
C.  D.  Mclndoe, 
John  H,  Bernard, 
Henry  E.  Watkins, 
James  M.  Garnett, 
Thomas  R.  Dew, 
John  Brokenbrongh, 
William  G.  Overton, 
Randolph  Harrison, 


John  W.  Jones, 
William  0.  Goode, 
William  Townes, 
William  B.  Rogers, 
William  P.  Taylor, 
Philip  A.  Dew, 
Linn  Banks, 
James  Lyons, 
James  Jones, 
William  H.  Roane, 
John  Tabb, 
Thomas  T.  Giles, 
James  Magruder, 
William  Daniel,  Jr., 
Archibald  Bryce,  Jr., 
Benjamin  H.  Magruder, 
S.  H.  Davis, 
Littleton  Upsher. 


NORTH    CAROLINA. 


Joseph  B.  Skinner, 
Louis  D.  Wilson, 
William  R.  Holt, 
William  W,  Jones, 
William  A.  Blount, 
Samuel  T.  Sawyer, 
Thomas  S,  Hoskins, 
Charles  Fisher, 
James  Iredell, 


Joseph  B.  G.  Roulhac, 
Edward  B.  Dudley, 
Joseph  D.  White, 
David  Outlaw, 
Robert  C.  G.  Hilliard, 
John  E.  Wood, 
J.  W.  Cochran, 
N.  Bruer. 


SOUTH    CAROLINA. 


Zachariah  P.  Herndon, 
F.  W.  Davie, 
Thomas  Pinckney, 
William  Butler, 
Henry  N.  Cruger, 
Henry  C.  Young, 
H.  A.  Middleton, 
W,  Wilkinson, 
Stephen  D.  Miller, 
John  Fraser, 
Job  Johnston, 
John  Carter, 
Joseph  E.  Jenkins, 
J.  H.  Glover, 
Edward  Richardson, 
William  C.  Preston, 
James  G.  Spann, 


A.  P.  Butler, 
T.  R.  Mitchell, 
Philip  Tidyman, 
William  Pope, 
James  Lynah, 
John  D.  Edwards, 
Langdon  Cheves, 
Hugh  Wilson, 
T.  Pinkney  Alston, 
William  Harper, 
Henry  Middleton, 
Daniel  E.  Huger, 
Hugh  S.  Legare, 
John  Taylor, 
J.  Berkley  Grimball, 
William  Smith, 
Thomson  T.  Player, 


APPENDIX. 


437 


James  Cuthbert, 
T.  D.  Singleton, 
Joseph  W.  Allston, 
C.  Macbeth, 

Eli  S.  Shorter, 
Alexander  Telfair, 
Seaborn  Jones, 


James  Rose, 
Thomas  Williams,  Jr., 
Thomas  Flemuig. 


GEORGIA. 


Robert  Habersham, 

John  Cmnming, 

John  Macpherson  Berrien. 


ALABAMA. 


p.  Waters, 
Ward  Taylor, 
Henry  Goldthwaite, 
Archibald  P.  Baldwin, 
William  J.  Mason. 


John  A.  Elmore, 
Enoch  Parsons, 
John  W.  Moore, 
Benajah  S.  Bibb, 
Alfred  V.  Scott, ' 
Howell  Rose, 

MISSISSIPPI. 

George  Poindexter. 

TENNESSEE. 

William  E.  Butler,  Alexander  Patton. 


APPENDIX,  C. 

Imports  and  Exports  of  the  United  States,  from  the  1st  of  October,  1789,  to  the 
30tk  of  September,  1838,  taken  from  documents  accompanying  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury's  annual  Report  to  Congress,  of  the  3d  of  December,  1839. 


Years. 

Total  Value  of 
Imports. 

Total  Value  of 
E.\ports. 

Domestic. 

Foreign. 

1790 

$23,000,000 

$20,205,156 

$19,666,000 

$539,156 

1791 

29,200,000 

19,012,041 

18,500,000 

512,041 

1792 

31,500,000 

20,753,098 

19,000,000 

1,753,098 

1793 

31,100,000 

26,109,572 

24,000,000 

2,109,572 

1794 

34,600,000 

33,026,233 

26,500,000 

6,526,233 

1795 

69,756,268 

47,989,472 

39,500,000 

8,489,472 

1796 

81,436,164 

67,064,097 

40,764,097 

20,300,000 

1797 

75,379,406 

56,850,006 

29,850,026 

27,000,000 

1798 

68,551,700 

61,527,097 

28,527,097 

33,000,000 

1799 

79,069,148 

78,665,522 

33,142,522 

45,523,000 

1800 

91,252,768 

70,971,780 

31,840,903 

39,130,877 

1801 

111,363,511 

94,115,925 

47,473,204 

46,642,721 

1802 

76,333,333 

72,483,160 

36,708,189 

35,774,971 

1803 

64,666,666 
2  0* 

55,800,033 

42,205,961 

13,594,072 

438 


APPENDIX. 


Table — continued. 


Years. 


1804 
1805 
1806 
1807 
1808 
1809 
1810 
1811 
1812 
1813 
1814 
1815 
1816 
1817 
1818 
1819 
1820 
1821 
1822 
1823 
1824 
1825 
1826 
1827 
1828 
1829 
1830 
1831 
1832 
1833 
1834 
1835 
1836 
1837 
1838 
1839*" 


Total  Value  of 
Imports. 


Total  Value  of 
Exports. 


$85,000,000  $77,699,074 
120,600,000"  95,566,021 


129,410,000 

138,500,000 

56,990,000 

59,400,000 

85,400,000 

53,400,000 

77,030,000 

22,005,000 

12,965,000 

113,041,274 

147,103,000 

99,250,000 

121,750,000 

87,125,000 

74,450,000 

62,585,724 

83,241,511 

77,579,267 

80,549,007 

96,340,075 

84,974,477 

79,484,068 

88,509,824 

74,492,527 

70,876,920 

103,191,124 

101,029,266J 

108,118,311 

126,521,332' 

149,895,742 

189,980,035 

140,989,217 

113,717,404 

157^609,560 


101,536,963 

108,343,150 

22,430,960 

52,203,231 

60,757,974 

61,316,831 

38,527,236 

27,855,997 

6,927,441 

52,557,753 

81,920,452 

87,671,569 

93,281,133 

70,142,521 

69,691,669 

64,974,382 

72,160,387 

74,699,030 

75,986,657 

99,535,388 

77,595,322 

82,324,827 

72,264,686 

72,358,671 

73,849,508 

81,310,583 

87,176,943 

90,140,433 

104,336,973 

121,693,577 

128,663,040 

117,419,376 

108,486,616 


Domestic. 


$41,467,477 
42,387,002 
41,253,727 
48,699,592 
9,433,546 
31,405,700 
42,366,679 
45,294,041 
30,032,109 
25,008,152 
6,782,272 
45,974,403 
64,781,896 
68,313,500 
73,854,437 
50,976,838 
51,683,640 
43,671,894 
49,874,185 
47,155,408 
50,649,500 
66,944,745 
53,055,710 
58,921,691 
50,669,669 
55,700,193 
59,462,029 
61,277,057 
63,137,470 
70,317,698 
81,034,162 
101,189,082 
106,916,680 
95,564,414 
96,033,821 


Foreign. 


118,359,0041  100,951,004 


$36,231,597 
53,179,019 
60,283,236 
59,643,558 
12,997,414 
20,797,531 
24,391,295 
16,022,790 
8,495,127 
2,847,845 
145,169 
6,583,350 
17,138,556 
19,358,069 
19,426,696 
19,165,683 
18,008,029 
21,302,488 
22,286,202 
27,543,622 
25,337,157 
32,590,643 
24,539,612 
23,403,136 
21,595,017 
16,658,478 
14,387,479 
20,033,526 
24,039,473! 
19,822,735 
23,312,811 
20,504,495 
21,746,360 
21,854,962 
12,452,795 


17,408,000 


Note. — For  the  early  years  the  aggregate  of  the  value  of  imports 
does  not  appear  on  the  official  statement,  and  has  been  estimated  at 
different  amounts  by  different  persons ;  and  thus  that  column  will  not 
always  correspond  with  former  reports.  But  the  difference  will 
not  be  found  so  great  as  to  affect  materially  any  general  result. 
[In  former  reports  it  is  stated,  that  prior  to  the  1st  of  October,  1820, 
the  official  returns  do  not  show  the  value  of  imports.  Previous  to 
1796,  the  returns  of  exports  did  not  discriminate  between  domestic 
and  foreign  productions. — .Author.'] 

*  The  imports  and  exports  for  1839  are  thus  estimated  by  the  Secretary,  the 
exact  returns  not  having  been  received  by  him. — Author. 


APPENDIX.  439 

REMARKS    ON    THE    FOREGOING    TABLE. 

It  will  be  perceived  that  from  the  year  1789,  to  the  year 
1807  inclusive,  the  foreign  commerce  of  the  country  experi- 
enced a  gradually  progressive  increase.  This  was  emphati- 
cally in  the  United  States,  the  period  of  free  trade.  Scarcely  an 
article  was  burdened  with  a  duly  higher  than  fifteen  per  cent. ; 
and  although  numerous  spoliations  were  committed  during 
this  period,  by  the  British  and  French,  who  between  them, 
captured  upwards  of  a  thousand  vessels,  yet  the  profits  of 
trade  and  navigation  were  sufficiently  inviting,  to  encourage 
our  merchants  to  extend  their  operations. 

On  the  18th  of  April,  1806,  the  non-importation  law  was 
enacted,  having  a  prospective  operation. 

On  the  22d  of  December,  1807,  a  general  embargo  was 
laid,  which  continued  until  the  1st  of  March,  1809,  when  it 
was  repealed  by  the  passage  of  the  non-intercourse  act, 
which  remained  in  force,  until  the  18th  of  June,  1812,  Avhen 
war  was  declared  against  Great  Britain.  The  effect  of  these 
successive  measures  is  shown  in  the  table. 

The  restoration  of  peace  consequent  upon  the  treaty  of 
Ghent,  of  24th  December,  1814,  the  news  of  which  reached 
New  York  on  the  11th  of  February,  1815,  set  commerce 
again  in  motion ;  and  had  it  not  been  for  the  restrictive 
system  which  was  commenced,  in  1816,  and  continued  by 
successive  enactments  in  the  years  1818, 1824,  and  1828,  the 
imports  and  exports  at  this  day  would  probably  have  ex- 
ceeded two  hundred  millions  of  dollars. 

In  1833,  the  compromise  act  was  passed,  providing  for  a 
gradual  reduction  of  duties ;  and  since  that  period,  it  will  be 
perceived,  there  has  been  a  great  augmentation  of  trade, 
swelled  in  amount,  it  is  true,  in  particular  years  by  specula- 
tive excitement,  but  exhibiting  for  the  last  six  years  so  great 
an  excess  over  the  six  years  immediately  preceding,  as  to 
prove  incontestibly  the  beneficial  effects  of  a  reduction  of 
duties. 

For  the  use  of  those  who  may  wish  to  calculate  the  rate 
per  head  of  the  imports  or  exports  at  different  periods,  the 
following  table  is  given  of  the  population  of  the  United 
States  at  the  several  periods  mentioned. 

1790 3,929,328. 

1800 5,309,758. 

1810 7,239,903. 

1820 9,638,166. 

1830 12,838,670. 

The  census  of  1840,  which  has  not  yet  been  completed, 
it  is  supposed,  will  give  about  17,000,000  as  the  present 
population. — Author. 


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